Growth failure is a cardinal feature of
chronic renal failure in children. Administration of recombinant
human growth hormone (rhGH) ameliorates this problem but may adversely affect the kidney and hasten the progression to
end-stage renal disease. We conducted experiments to examine the impact of rhGH on the severity of chronic
puromycin aminonucleoside (PAMN) nephropathy in rats. The glomerulopathy was induced by serial
injections of PAMN over a 12 week period. Experimental animals (N = 6) received rhGH, 0.5 mg per dose, three times weekly, while control rats (N = 6) received
hormone vehicle. rhGH had no effect on
weight gain, hematocrit, or blood pressure in rats with the experimental renal disease. Urinary
protein excretion increased approximately 50% in rhGH-treated rats with chronic PAMN nephropathy compared to untreated animals between four to eight weeks of the observation period. After 12 weeks, the
inulin clearance was significantly lower in rhGH-treated rats, 0.26 +/- 0.05 versus 0.50 +/- 0.06 ml/min/100 g body wt in control PAMN animals, P < 0.05. Compared to untreated rats with PAMN nephropathy, administration of rhGH increased the extent of
segmental glomerulosclerosis from 11 +/- 3 to 46 +/- 9% (P < 0.005) and elevated the tubulointerstitial injury score from 0.5 +/- 0.1 to 1.4 +/- 0.4 (P < 0.05). Furthermore, glomerular
hypertrophy was enhanced in animals with chronic PAMN nephropathy given rhGH, as evidenced by a larger glomerular planar area, 9.2 +/- 0.3 x 10(-3) versus 11.9 +/- 0.5 x 10(-3) mm2, P < 0.005.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)