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The Relationship between Growth Hormone Kinetics and Sarcopenia in Postmenopausal Women: The Role of Fat Mass and Leptin¹

Nutrition Exercise Physiology and Sarcopenia Laboratory, Jean Mayer U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University (R.R., L.C.R., J.J.K., N.L.), and Tupper Research Institute, Department of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine and New England Medical Center (R.R., S.R.), Boston, Massachusetts 02111; School of Health Promotion and Human Development, University of Wisconsin (L.C.R.), Stevens Point, Wisconsin 54481; the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, University of Virginia Medical School (J.D.V.), Charlottesville, Virginia 22908; Maine Center for Osteoporosis Research and Education, St. Joseph Hospital (C.R.), Bangor, Maine 04402; Amgen, Inc. (M.N.), Thousand Oaks, California 91320; and the Department of Medicine, University of Arizona College of Medicine (S.R.), Tucson, Arizona 85724

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Ronenn Roubenoff, M.D., M.H.S., Jean Mayer U.S. Department of Agriculture Human Nutrition Research Center, Tufts University, 711 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02111. E-mail: roubenoff{at}hnrc.tufts.edu

Sarcopenia, the decline in body cell mass (BCM) and especially in muscle mass with age, is an important age-related cause of frailty and loss of independence in the elderly. Because the decline in BCM with age parallels a decline in GH secretion from young adulthood to old age, loss of GH secretion has been considered an important contributory cause of sarcopenia in the elderly. To test this hypothesis in a group of healthy postmenopausal women (n = 15; mean ± SD age, 66.9 ± 7.8 yr), 24-h GH concentrations and secretory kinetics were correlated with BCM (measured by whole body counting of ⁴⁰K) and percent body fat (measured by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry or neutron inelastic scattering). Serum leptin levels were determined as a measure of adipocyte mass. Contrary to prediction, GH secretion was lower in women with higher BCM (r = -0.50; P < 0.05), whereas their mean fat mass was higher (r = 0.51, P < 0.05). These data indicate that sarcopenia in postmenopausal women is not associated with reduced GH secretion and is inversely correlated with fat mass. Serum leptin levels were inversely associated with GH secretion (r = -0.67; P < 0.006). Although a causal relationship has not been demonstrated, these data suggest that leptin could modulate GH secretion through its action on the aging hypothalamic-pituitary axis, or that GH regulates leptin secretion.