Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, United States
Yimin Fang
Department of Internal Medicine, Southern Illinois University, School of Medicine, Springfield, United States
Amit Patki
Department of Biostatistics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, United States
Jacob JE Koopman
Section of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Department of Internal Medicine, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
David B Allison
Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, United States; Department of Biostatistics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, United States; Department of Nutrition Sciences, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, United States
Cristal M Hill
Department of Internal Medicine, Southern Illinois University, School of Medicine, Springfield, United States
Michal M Masternak
Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Medicine, University of Central Florida, Orlando, United States; Department of Head and Neck Surgery, The Greater Poland Cancer Centre, Poznan, Poland
Justin Darcy
Department of Internal Medicine, Southern Illinois University, School of Medicine, Springfield, United States
Jian Wang
Department of Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, United States
Samuel McFadden
Department of Internal Medicine, Southern Illinois University, School of Medicine, Springfield, United States
Andrzej Bartke
Department of Internal Medicine, Southern Illinois University, School of Medicine, Springfield, United States
Life-long lack of growth hormone (GH) action can produce remarkable extension of longevity in mice. Here we report that GH treatment limited to a few weeks during development influences the lifespan of long-lived Ames dwarf and normal littermate control mice in a genotype and sex-specific manner. Studies in a separate cohort of Ames dwarf mice show that this short period of the GH exposure during early development produces persistent phenotypic, metabolic and molecular changes that are evident in late adult life. These effects may represent mechanisms responsible for reduced longevity of dwarf mice exposed to GH treatment early in life. Our data suggest that developmental programming of aging importantly contributes to (and perhaps explains) the well documented developmental origins of adult disease.
