Insulin Suppresses Rat Growth Hormone Messenger Ribonucleic Acid Levels in Rat Pituitary Tumor Cells

Insulin has been shown to suppress growth hormone (GH) secretion by rat pituitary tumor cells (GH₃) independently of glucose utilization. The effects of physiologic doses of insulin were therefore tested on cytoplasmic levels of GH messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) sequences. Insulin (3.5 nM) treatment of cells for 5 days suppressed the hybridization of cytoplasmic GH mRNA with ³²P-cDNA for rGH by 50%. The three- to fourfold induction of cytoplasmic GH mRNA by hydrocortisone (1 μM) was also suppressed by insulin (3.5 nM) by 40%. The results show a direct suppression of cytoplasmic rGH mRNA concentration by physiologic doses of insulin. These findings may be due to either decreased rate of GH gene transcription, increased intracellular breakdown, or decreased nuclear-cytoplasmic transport of GH mRNA caused by insulin.