We evaluated the interrelationship between, and regulation of, the hepatic growth hormone receptor and serum GH binding protein (GH BP) in pigs treated with recombinant porcine growth hormone (rpGH). Infant and pubertal male pigs (N = 5 per group) received either rpGH 0.15 mg/kg daily or diluent intramuscularly for 12 days. Somatic growth, serum IGF-I and GH BP and [125I]bovine GH (bGH) binding to MgCl2-treated hepatic membrane homogenates were examined. Marked age-related increases were seen in serum GH BP (p less than 0.001) and [125I]bGH binding to hepatic membranes (p less than 0.001). GH BP was increased in rpGH treated animals (p = 0.03), from 13.8 +/- 1.2 (mean +/- 1 x SEM) (controls) to 17.8 +/- 2.0% in infants, and from 35.2 +/- 2.6 (controls) to 41.8 +/- 3.4% in pubertal animals. [125I]bGH binding to hepatic membranes was also increased by rpGH treatment (p less than 0.05), from 7.0 +/- 1.6 (controls) to 15.4 +/- 3.6% in infants and from 53.7 +/- 7.1 (controls) to 65.1 +/- 11.8% in pubertal animals. No significant interaction between age and treatment was seen. Overall, serum GH BP correlated significantly with [125I]bGH membrane capacity (r = 0.82, p less than 0.001), with a correlation of r = 0.83 in the infant animals but no significant correlation in the pubertal animals considered alone (r = 0.13). Serum IGF-I correlated significantly with serum GH BP (r = 0.93, p less than 0.001) and [125I]bGH membrane binding capacity (r = 0.91, p less than 0.001). These observations suggest that serum GH BP levels reflect major changes of hepatic GH receptor status.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)