Plasma concentrations of growth hormone (GH) were measured in the brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) pouch young from 25 through to 198 days post-partum (n=71). GH concentrations were highest early in pouch life (around 100 ng/ml), and thereafter declined in an exponential fashion to reach adult concentrations (10·8 1·8 ng/ml; n=21) by approximately 121-145 days post-partum, one to two months before the young is weaned. Growth hormone-binding protein (GHBP), which has been shown to modify the cellular actions of GH in eutherian mammals, was identified for the first time in a marsupial. Based on size exclusion gel filtration, possum GHBP had an estimated molecular mass of ]65 kDa, similar to that identified in other mammalian species, and binding of 125 I-labelled human GH (hGH) was displaced by excess hGH (20 µg). An immunoprecipitation method, in which plasma GHBP was rendered polyethylene glycol precipitable with a monoclonal antibody to the rabbit GHBP/GH receptor (MAb 43) and labelled with 125 I-hGH, was used to quantitate plasma GHBP by Scatchard analysis in the developing (pooled plasma samples) and adult (individual animals) possums. Binding affinity (K a ) values in pouch young aged between 45 and 54 and 144 and 153 days post-partum varied between 1·0 and 2·4 10 9 /M, which was slightly higher than that in adult plasma (0·96 0·2 10 9 /M, n=6). Binding capacity (B max ) values increased from nondetectable levels in animals aged 25-38 days post-partum to reach concentrations around half that seen in the adult (1·4 0·2 10 -9 M) by about 117 days post-partum and remained at this level until 153 days post-partum. Therefore, in early pouch life when plasma GH concentrations are highest, the very low concentrations of GHBP are unlikely to be important in terms of competing with GH-receptor for ligand or altering the half-life of circulating GH.
Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta9-THC) inhibited the activity of lysolecithin acyl transferase, a membrane-bound lymphocyte enzyme, at concentrations above 1.3 muM. Stimulation of acyl transferase activity by concanavalin A, an early response in lymphocyte activation, was entirely abolished in the presence of delta9-THC.
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