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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Little Rock, Arkansas » Microbiome and Metabolism Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #165050
Title: NUTRITION AND THE IGF SYSTEM IN REPRODUCTION

Author
item SIMMEN, FRANK - UAMS
item KWAK, INSEOK - BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MED.
item BLUM, JASON - UNIV OF FLORIDA
item SIMMEN, ROSALIA - UAMS

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/20/2003
Publication Date: 6/20/2004
Citation: Simmen, F.A., Kwak, I., Blum, J.L., Simmen, R.C. 2004. Nutrition and the IGF system in reproduction. In: Houston, M.S., Holly, J.M.P., Feldman, E.L., editors. IGF and Nutrition in Health and Disease. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press. p. 111-121.

Interpretive Summary: In this invited book chapter, the authors have reviewed the current state of the field and have provided suggested directions for future research in this area which represents the convergence of 'nutrition, insulin-like growth factors, and reproduction'. The authors critically reviewed and summarized the important features of all the scientific literature in this area and used these to predict important future directions for other researchers around the world who are working in this area. It is concluded that nutrition significantly impacts the actions of the insulin-like growth factors in male and female reproductive organs and that this in turn affects reproductive efficiency. Future directed research may impact human fertility and fetal and neonatal development.

Technical Abstract: Evidence has been steadily emerging to indicate that the 'IGF System', consisting of two secreted growth factor ligands (IGF- I and 'II), six secreted and/or membrane-localized IGF binding proteins (IGFBPs -1, -2, -3, -4, -5, and '6), the IGFBP-3 acid-labile subunit (ALS), two cell-surface receptors (type I and type II IGF receptors), and potentially numerous ancillary participatory IGF and IGFBP proteases, is a critical regulatory component for the orchestration of successful reproduction in mammals and other vertebrates (1). The IGF system can be functionally divided into two parallel entities, by virtue of whether its components are present in the circulation ('endocrine IGF') or are synthesized and act locally ('autocrine/paracrine' or 'tissue IGF'). In many instances, the two IGF Systems are not functionally equivalent or at most are partially overlapping. Many of the IGF system components present in the circulation, micro-vasculature and extra-vascular spaces are under nutritional control with respect to their concentrations, and in some cases this involves non-coordinate or even opposing effects on different family members in the face of changing nutritional inputs or overall energy balance. The physiological effects and endpoints of such changes are only now being elucidated; similarly, questions of how nutritional status affects the expression and functions of individual tissue IGF Systems have just recently emerged as an area of intense investigation. Here we review the present state of research that has implicated the IGF System in reproduction and how nutrition interacts with and/or modifies such reproductive actions where known (Fig. 1). Lastly, we attempt to formulate possible directions for future research that may have the potential to impact human reproductive medicine as well as animal growth and reproduction via nutritional means.