EFFECT OF HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE ON GLUCOSE TOLERANCE AND SOME INTERMEDIARY METABOLITES IN MAN

Abstract

Thirty mg of human growth hormone (HGH) was given daily for 3 days to 11 non-diabetic subjects with normal pituitary function. A decrease in glucose tolerance was observed in 7 of these 11 subjects. The administration of HGH increased the plasma concentration of non-esterified fatty acids, but had no effect on the fasting concentration of pyruvate, lactate, citrate, alpha-ketoglutarate or inorganic phosphate. The increase in the blood level of pyruvate, lactate and/or citrate after an intravenous glucose load was more marked after than before HGH administration in the 3 patients whose glucose tolerance was decreased to the greatest extent by HGH. The changes in the blood levels of these metabolites in the remaining eight patients as well as the response of the concentrations of alpha-ketoglutarate, inorganic phosphate and non-esterified fatty acids to glucose loading in all eleven cases, were not influenced by HGH-treatment. Glucose tolerance tests were also performed in 17 unselected cases of acromegaly. The glucose tolerance was often decreased but no correlation could be demonstrated between the glucose tolerance and the activity of the disease, this latter being measured by estimations of the activity of the sulfation factor in serum. The increases in the blood concentration of pyruvate, lactate, citrate and alpha-ketoglutarate during a glucose load were normal in the cases of acromegaly.