An extremely sensitive in vitro model for elucidating structure-activity relationships of growth hormone-releasing factor analogs.

An improved rat anterior pituitary primary cell culture technique for studying GH-releasing activity of human pancreatic GH-releasing factor (hpGRF) and its analogs is described. Male pituitaries, dispersed by a combination of trypsin digestion and mechanical agitation, were plated at a density of 200,000 cells per well and cultured for 4 days. The attached cells were then stimulated with synthetic hpGRF which was comprised of the first 29 residues of the larger, originally isolated forms and which was amidated at the C-terminal (hpGRF-29). Analogs of hpGRF-29 which were modified in positions 1, 2, 3, or 7, and other secretagogues were similarly tested. Medium was collected after 3 h, and secreted hormone was measured by RIA. The cells were extremely sensitive to hpGRF-29 stimulation, and this effect was specific. The minimal effective dose of hpGRF-29 was an unprecedented 0.4 X 10(-15)M. No stimulation of LH, FSH, or PRL by hpGRF-29 was observed. Bombesin and vasoactive intestinal peptide were ineffective in stimulating GH release. [D-Trp6]LHRH (a potent LHRH agonist), also did not release GH but did stimulate secretion of LH and FSH at doses ranging from 0.4 X 10(-10)M to 1.0 X 10(-9)M. Responses of the cells to hpGRF-29 analogs were characterized by distinct heterologous dose-response curves. [D-Ala2]hpGRF-29 was 50 times more active than its parent 29-amino-acid peptide. [D-Thr7]hpGRF-29, another analog that differed from hpGRF-29 by the insertion of a D-isomer for the naturally occurring L-residue, was about 10,000 times less effective in stimulating GH secretion than was hpGRF-29 itself. Potencies of these and other analogs with respect to GH release in vitro were similar to those estimated in vivo. Thus, this primary cell culture provides an extremely sensitive, selective, and reproducible system for studying hpGRF structure-activity relationships. Further, such tremendous sensitivity to hpGRF can provide a system to study changes in pituitary sensitivity to hpGRF during different physiological states.