Differential effects of growth hormone and prednisolone on energy metabolism and leptin levels in humans.

Short-term growth hormone (GH) exposure has been shown to stimulate energy expenditure (EE) without concomitant changes in body composition. To what extent this is related to thyroid function, sympathetic activity, hyperinsulinemia, or leptin secretion is unknown. It is also unknown whether the calorigenic effect of GH is influenced by glucocorticoids, which are known to antagonize the anabolic actions of GH. To pursue this, eight normal male subjects (aged 22 to 28 years; body mass index, 21.6 to 26.3 kg/m2) were randomly studied during four 4-day treatment periods with (1) daily subcutaneous (SC) placebo injections and placebo tablets, (2) daily SC GH injections (0.1 IU/kg x d) and placebo tablets, (3) daily prednisolone administration (25 mg morning and evening) plus placebo injections, and (4) daily GH injections plus prednisolone administration. GH administration decreased plasma epinephrine significantly (mean +/- SE, 34.7 +/- 5.7 ng/L for control v 24.8 +/- 5.8 for GH, P < .05), had no effect on plasma norepinephrine or serum leptin, and increased both free triiodothyronine (FT3) levels (5.7 +/- 0.3 pmol/L for control v 6.7 +/- 0.3 for GH, P < .05) and resting EE ([REE] 1,861 +/- 61 kcal/24 h for control v 1,996 +/- 69 for GH, P < .05). Prednisolone administration did not affect epinephrine and REE, decreased norepinephrine (116 +/- 13, P < .05) and FT3 (4.7 +/- 0.2, P < .05), and increased leptin (3.93 +/- 0.71, P < .05). Concomitant GH and prednisolone administration increased REE (2,068 +/- 85, P +/- .05) and leptin (4.82 +/- 0.93, P +/- .05), had no effect on either epinephrine or norepinephrine, and decreased FT3 (5.0 +/- 0.2, P < .05). Resting heart rate (HR) increased only during GH, whereas sympathetic nerve activity was unchanged in all studies. Our data suggest that (1) the calorigenic effect of GH is not mediated by changes in sympathetic activity or leptin secretion, (2) rapid elevations in leptin induced by glucocorticoids do not affect EE in humans, and (3) the acute calorigenic effects of GH are probably related to increased cardiac workload.