Metabolic impact of adult-onset, isolated, growth hormone deficiency (AOiGHD) due to destruction of pituitary somatotropes.

Growth hormone (GH) inhibits fat accumulation and promotes protein accretion, therefore the fall in GH observed with weight gain and normal aging may contribute to metabolic dysfunction. To directly test this hypothesis a novel mouse model of adult onset-isolated GH deficiency (AOiGHD) was generated by cross breeding rat GH promoter-driven Cre recombinase mice (Cre) with inducible diphtheria toxin receptor mice (iDTR) and treating adult Cre(+/-), iDTR(+/-) offspring with DT to selectively destroy the somatotrope population of the anterior pituitary gland, leading to a reduction in circulating GH and IGF-I levels. DT-treated Cre(-/-), iDTR(+/-) mice were used as GH-intact controls. AOiGHD im…