Acute sleep deprivation leads to growth hormone (GH) resistance in rats

Abstract

Sleep is an essential physiological process that is required by all higher animals. Sleep has many important physiological functions. Previous studies have focused on the relationship between sleep and growth hormone secretion patterns. However, to date, whether sleep affects the biological activities of GH remains unclear. Here, we investigated this issue by evaluating the growth hormone receptor (GHR)-mediated intracellular signalling pathway in a sleep-deprived rat model. The results showed that GH’s signalling ability is decreased in an acute sleep deprivation rat model. JAK2-STAT signalling was decreased significantly compared to that in control rats. We further analysed the possible molecular mechanism of GH signal inhibition in sleep-deprived rats. The results showed that the protein expression levels of SOCS3 (suppressors of cytokine signalling 3, which functions as the negative regulatory molecule of GH’s signalling) increased; however, other negative regulatory proteins, such as protein phosphatase (PTP1B), did not change. In addition, acute sleep deprivation results in a significant increase in serum FFA (free fatty acid) level, which is also one of the factors contributing to GH inhibition. These findings suggest that GH signal resistance may be caused by a combination of factors. This study could serve as an important reference for related studies on the effect of sleep deprivation on endocrine systems.