Advisory Committee Chair
Thomas L Clemens
Advisory Committee Members
Candece L Gladson
Stuart J Frank
Susan L Bellis
Marcas M Bamman
Document Type
Dissertation
Date of Award
2009
Degree Name by School
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Heersink School of Medicine
Abstract
Growth hormone (GH) and insulin like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) exert profound growth promoting actions during pre and postnatal skeletal muscle development. GH and IGF-1 seem to promote their anabolic actions by influencing skeletal muscle cell prolif-eration and fusion. However, because GH stimulates the production of IGF-1 from the liver and other GH-responsive peripheral tissues, including skeletal muscle, the individual contributions of these two growth factors to anabolic responses in skeletal muscle remains poorly defined. In this dissertation research, I sought to distinguish the mechanisms responsible for growth hormone's (GH) anabolic actions in skeletal muscle. To accomplish this, I analyzed the impact of selected genetic alterations in the GH-IGF-1 pathway on skeletal muscle development and function in mice. With the results from these studies, I demonstrate that GH mediates skeletal muscle development by enhancing myoblast fusion in an IGF-1 dependent manner. In addition, I also demonstrate that disruption of the GHR in skeletal muscle leads to alterations in global energy utilization and insulin resistance in an IGF-1 independent manner.
Recommended Citation
Mavalli, Mahendra Devaraj, "Mechanisms of Growth Hormone Action in Skeletal Muscle" (2009). All ETDs from UAB. 2405.
https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/etd-collection/2405