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Researcher links hormone deficiency to memory problems

Jan 13, 2010

by April Wilkerson
The Journal Record 

Copyright © 2010 The Journal Record All Rights Reserved


Researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center have opened a new door toward discovering the role of growth hormones in cognitive decline as people age.

The work of Dr. William Sonntag, professor and director of the Reynolds Oklahoma Center on Aging, is featured in Wednesday’s Journal of Endocrinology. Sonntag’s animal study showed that a growth hormone deficiency in adolescence means memory problems in older adulthood. But by replacing those growth hormones during adolescence, the memory decline is prevented.

Growth hormones have their own reputation in today’s society, primarily from athletic use to building body mass, but Sonntag said the discovery is another step toward understanding the mechanisms of growth hormones and their effect on aging.

“We’ve done a lot of work on the effects of growth hormones, and their companion hormone, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), on aging,” Sonntag said. “But this is the first time we’ve seen the adolescent changes in growth hormones and how they affect aging.

“We think it opens up new areas of research for us,” he said. “We’re finding that the genesis of cognitive impairment can be very early in life. What happens during adolescence can have an effect much later in life.”

The time frame of the research also points to a positive outcome, Sonntag said. During the 10-week period that the animals were given growth hormones, they showed substantial improvement in cognitive function (rats in a maze test).

“These early effects of the presence of hormones – or not – are observed over a lifetime,” he said. “That’s a novel concept, and it’s amazing to me that just a 10-week replacement (of growth hormone) can have such a broad action.”

The next step to build on the study could be to follow human adolescents as they age, specifically short children who have been diagnosed as having a deficiency of growth hormones, Sonntag said. His own research is ongoing to determine which genes are turned on and off by growth hormones. At the point that those discoveries are made, a pharmacological agent could be developed to target specific pathways, he said.

While the discovery is exciting, the use of growth hormones requires careful steps, Sonntag said. Long-term use in adults can increase cancer risk, he said, and excess use has induced pathological changes.

“What we don’t want people to do it to try to get growth hormones or think that this is a simple fix. It’s certainly not,” he said.

But the discovery represents another shift in research focus. Much of his early work centered on trying to restore cognitive function in older people when they showed a deficiency, Sonntag said. Now a teenager with growth hormone deficiency is able to help researchers see into the future.

“Essentially, you may be able to predict the impairments people may have by the hormone levels they had very early in life or during adolescence,” he said.

View original article at www.journalrecord.com