Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Apr;32(4):335-7.
doi: 10.1007/BF03345723.

Serum ghrelin levels in growth hormone-sufficient and growth hormone-deficient patients during growth hormone-releasing hormone plus arginine test

B Tarantini  1 , C Ciuoli, S Checchi, A Montanaro, V Bonato, A Theodoropoulou, L Pasqui, F Pacini
Affiliations

Serum ghrelin levels in growth hormone-sufficient and growth hormone-deficient patients during growth hormone-releasing hormone plus arginine test

B Tarantini et al. J Endocrinol Invest. 2009 Apr.

Abstract

Background and aims: Ghrelin is an orexigenic hormone produced in the stomach and in other organs, exerting a wide range of metabolic functions, including stimulation of GH secretion. Ghrelin secretion is decreased by iv or oral glucose load as well as during euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp and hypoglycemia. We evaluated the circulating ghrelin levels in GH-deficient (GHD) and in GH-sufficient (GHS) patients during GHRH plus arginine test.

Materials and methods: The study group comprised 35 patients, including 20 with pituitary tumors, 12 with empty sella, 2 with short stature, and 1 with post-traumatic isolated GH deficiency. According to the results of GHRH plus arginine test, 14 patients were defined as GHD and 21 as GHS. Patients with central hypothyroidism, hypocorticism, and hypogonadism had been on replacement therapy for at least 3 months at the moment of the study. Blood samples were collected every 20 min up to 60 min after GHRH and arginine administration.

Results: By definition, GH response to GHRH plus arginine was higher in GHS than GHD group (p<0.0001). Basal serum ghrelin levels were not different in the two groups and did not correlate with body mass index, GH, IGFI and insulin concentrations. After GHRH plus arginine, serum ghrelin decreased significantly in both groups, with percent decreases ranging 13.3-66.6% in GHD patients (p=0.001) and 7.2-42.2% in GHS patients (p=0.004), with no significant difference in the two groups (p=0.12).

Conclusion: Our results show that ghrelin secretion is not modulated by acute GH increase observed in GHS subjects during GHRH plus arginine infusion. The similar decrease of serum ghrelin after GHRH plus arginine stimulation in both GHS and GHD subjects demonstrated that there is no negative feedback of GH on ghrelin secretion.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2003 Nov;88(11):5193-8 - PubMed
    1. Eur J Endocrinol. 2001 Dec;145(6):711-6 - PubMed
    1. Nature. 1999 Dec 9;402(6762):656-60 - PubMed
    1. Clin Endocrinol (Oxf). 2004 Jul;61(1):81-7 - PubMed
    1. Regul Pept. 2006 Sep 11;136(1-3):105-8 - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

  NODES
admin 5
INTERN 2
twitter 2