Studies with human growth hormone

Abstract

Ten dwarfed patients whose short stature was of varying aetiology were studied by investigation of some of the metabolic effects of human growth hormone, 10 mg. being administered daily for a period of 5 to 9 days. The patients were maintained on a constant diet during a preliminary control period, while receiving HGH, and in 7 patients from 2 to 7 days in the post-HGH period. HGH produced a reduction in serum cholesterol, with a rebound on withdrawal, in 7; a delayed clearance of fat from the blood after a fat load in 9; and the appearance of pre-5 lipoprotein in the fasting state, as measured by paper electrophoresis, in all of them. The fall in serum cholesterol and the rebound on withdrawal of HGH has some relevance to the observation that hypercholesterolaemia occurs in some hypopituitary patients even in the absence of hypothyroidism. No change was observed in tests of thyroid and adrenocortical function during the short-term high dosage administration of HGH. Hypopituitary patients show a considerable retention of nitrogen on HGH administration, and we have confirmed the work of Prader and his colleagues that this provides a valuable diagnostic test for growth hormone deficiency. The measurement of urinary nitrogen excretion after the with- drawal of HGH also promises to be a useful investigation in the differential diagnosis of short stature. Nitrogen excretion in the withdrawal phase in hypopituitary children returns slowly to its pre- HGH levels; two non-hypopituitary dwarfed children excreted much more nitrogen in the withdrawal period than they retained in the HGH period. One primordial dwarf showed a negligible change in urinary nitrogen excretion both in the HGH and in the post-HGH periods.