Direct actions of cortisol, thyroxine and growth hormone on IGF-I mRNA expression in sea bream hepatocytes.

The present study aims to investigate potential regulatory effect of different growth-related hormones including growth hormone (GH), human insulin-like growth factor-I (hIGF-I), thyroxine (T(4)), triiodothyronine (T(3)) and cortisol, on insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) mRNA expression of hepatocytes isolated from silver sea bream. By using real-time PCR, IGF-I mRNA expression profiles of hepatocytes in response to individual hormones were determined in vitro. Hepatocytes incubated with GH at concentrations of 10-1000 ng/mL showed significantly higher IGF-I expression, but the elevation was attenuated at high concentration of GH (1000 ng/mL). IGF-I expression remained unchanged in hepatocytes after incubation with hIGF-I. Hepatocytes incubated with T(4) at concentration of 1000 ng/mL exhibited a significant elevation in IGF-I expression, whereas no difference in IGF-I expression was demonstrated in hepatocytes after incubation with T(3). Upon incubation with cortisol (1-1000 ng/mL), IGF-I expression was significantly decreased in hepatocytes in a dose-dependent manner. Our study demonstrated that GH, T(4), and cortisol had direct modulatory effects on IGF-I expression in fish hepatocytes in vitro.