Studies with human growth hormone.

Abstract

Ten dwarfed patients whose short stature was of varying etiology were studied by investigation of sone 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-[beta] lipoprotein in the fasting state, as measured by paper electrophoresis, in all of them. The fall in seruir cholesterol and the rebound on withdrawal of HGH has some relevance to the observation that hypercholesterolemia occurs in some hypopituitary patients even in the absence of hypo-thyroidism. No change was observed in tests of thyroid and adreno-cortical function during the short-term high dosage administration of HGH. Hypopituitary patients show a considerable retention of N on HGH administration, and the work of Prader and his colleagues is confirmed to the extent that this provides a valuable diagnostic test for growth hormone deficiency. The measurement of urinary N excretion after the withdrawal of HGH also promises to be a useful investigation in the differential diagnosis of short stature. N excretion in the withdrawal phase in hypopituitary children returns slowly to its pre-HGH levels; 2 non-hypopituitary dwarfed children excreted much more N in the withdrawal period than they retained in the HGH period. One primordial dwarf showed a negligible change in urinary N excretion both in the HGH and in the post-HGH periods.