Journal article 44 views
Meal-feeding promotes skeletal growth by ghrelin-dependent enhancement of growth hormone rhythmicity
Amanda K.E. Hornsby,
Richard C. Brown,
Thomas W. Tilston,
Harry A. Smith,
Alfonso Moreno-Cabañas,
Bradley Arms-Williams,
Anna L. Hopkins,
Katie D. Taylor,
Simran K.R. Rogaly,
Lois H.M. Wells,
Jamie J. Walker,
Jeffrey Davies 
,
Yuxiang Sun,
Jeffrey M. Zigman,
James A. Betts,
Timothy Wells
,
Yuxiang Sun,
Jeffrey M. Zigman,
James A. Betts,
Timothy Wells
The Journal of Clinical Investigation
Swansea University Author:
Jeffrey Davies
Full text not available from this repository: check for access using links below.
DOI (Published version): 10.1172/JCI189202
Abstract
The physiological impact of ultradian temporal feeding patterns remains a major unanswered question in nutritional science. We have employed automated and nasogastric feeding to address this question in male rodents and human volunteers. While grazing and meal-feeding reduced food intake in parallel...
| Published in: | The Journal of Clinical Investigation |
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| ISSN: | 0021-9738 1558-8238 |
| Published: |
American Society for Clinical Investigation
2025
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| Online Access: |
Check full text
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69285 |
| Abstract: |
The physiological impact of ultradian temporal feeding patterns remains a major unanswered question in nutritional science. We have employed automated and nasogastric feeding to address this question in male rodents and human volunteers. While grazing and meal-feeding reduced food intake in parallel (compared to ad libitum-fed rodents), body length and tibial epiphysial plate width were maintained in meal-fed rodents via the action of ghrelin and its receptor, GHS-R. Grazing and meal-feeding initially suppressed elevated pre-prandial ghrelin levels in rats, followed by either a sustained elevation in ghrelin in grazing rats or pre-prandial ghrelin surges in meal-fed rats. Episodic growth hormone (GH) secretion was largely unaffected in grazing rats, but meal-feeding tripled GH secretion, with burst height augmented and two additional bursts of GH per day. Continuous nasogastric infusion of enteral feed in humans failed to suppress circulating ghrelin, producing continuously elevated circulating GH with minimal rhythmicity. In contrast, bolus enteral infusion elicited post-prandial ghrelin troughs accompanied by reduced circulating GH, with enhanced ultradian rhythmicity. Taken together, our data imply that the contemporary shift from regular meals to snacking behaviour may be detrimental to optimal skeletal growth outcomes by sustaining circulating GH at levels associated with undernourishment and diminishing GH pulsatility. |
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| Keywords: |
Feeding pattern, enteral feeding, grazing, meal-feeding, ghrelin, growth hormone, skeletal growth |
| College: |
Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences |
| Funders: |
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
(Grant: OPP1061040), the Rosetrees Trust (Grant: A2248), the Waterloo Foundation (Grants:
1403/3689, 1403/3758, 1403/4120) and Cardiff University’s School of Biosciences Equipment
Fund, Research Contingency Fund and Neuroscience and Mental Health Research Institute
Seedcorn Fund and Future Minds Programme. Enteral formula for the human feeding study was
supplied by Nestlé Health Sciences. J.J.W acknowledges financial support from the Medical
Research Council (Grants MR/N008936/1 and MR/T032480/1). |