Abstract
Summary
Two groups of 7-month-old female Long-Evans rats, having a mean weight of 260 gm, were injected daily with a growth hormone containing extract of bovine anterior pituitaries at a dose level corresponding to 3.2 mg growth hormone/rat/day. After 136 days of treatment, growth was significantly less than initially (p<10−10 in both groups). Treatment was then suspended for 16 to 20 days on 4 different occasions in one group. This suspension led to cachexia with a mean loss of approximately 60 gm body weight each time. When daily injections were reinstituted the mean gain during the first 16 days of re-treatment ranged from 55.0 ± 11.8 to 62.0 ± 7.4 gm (mean ± standard error) compared to 63.9 ± 1.7 gm during the initial 16 days of treatment. Re-treatment growth was significantly greater in each case than during the first 16 days of treatment after the rats initially reached the same body weight.
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