Chronic effects of somatotropin treatment in vivo and in vitro on lipogenic activity of goat adipose tissue in a glucose-free buffer during acute incubation.

Young castrated male goats (n = 8) were used to investigate the effect of long-term treatment with recombinant methionyl bovine somatotropin in a sustained release vehicle (bST; 100 mg at seven-day intervals in a 147-day experiment) and chronic culture (24 h) of omental adipose tissue in the presence of various hormones on lipogenic responses to catecholamines during acute incubation (2 h) in a sodium acetate supplemented glucose-free buffer. The rate of fatty acid synthesis in freshly-prepared adipose explants was low and did not differ from those cultured in the absence of hormones for 24 h. Hormonal combination of insulin (17 nmol.l(-1)) plus cortisol (138 nmol.l(-1)) or insulin plus recombinant enterokinase linker bST (4.5 nmol.l(-1) increased lipogenesis (P<0.05). Further addition of bST or cortisol decreased lipogenesis significantly (P<0.05) in the controls but not significantly in bST-treated animals. Cultured explants from either control or bST-treated animals showed significant inhibition of lipogenesis by both norepinephrine (10 micromol.l(-1)) and isoprenaline (10 micromol.l(-1)). BST treatment in vivo did not increase the responsiveness of cultured explants to norepinephrine in vitro, however, the responsiveness to isoprenaline(inhibition of lipogenesis) was greater in bST-treated animals than in the controls.