1977 Volume 53 Issue 6 Pages 743-751
The present study was undertaken to clarify the relationship between secretion of growth hormone and glucoreceptor in the hypothalamus of normal subjects and diabetics, using 2-bromo-α-ergocriptine (CB 154, Sandoz) which has been reported to decrease the level of growth hormone in acromegaly. Six normal volunteers and 8 non-controlled diabetics were examined according to the programs described below.
The results obtained are as follows :
(1) Oral administration of 2.5mg of CB 154 caused an increase of up to 11.6 ng/ml in serum HGH level in normal subjects 150 minutes after the administration, but only a low grade increase in serum HGH level in diabetics was observed.
(2) When oral administration of CB 154 had been followed by 50g of glucose ingestion two hours later, the HGH response to CB 154 was completely suppressed in normal subjects, but a slight increase of HGH level was observed in four of the eight diabetics.
(3) When CB 154 had been orally administered two hours prior to the 50g glucose ingestion, the lower response of blood glucose was observed in both normal subjects and diabetics. There was no remarkable difference in serum IRI response to glucose between the non-pretreated and the CB 154 pretreated subjects.
These findings indicated that a HGH response to CB 154 might be affected by the glucoreceptor in the hypothalamus, and that an abnormal secretion of HGH might be present in diabetics. Moreover, CB 154 was thought to influence the glucose tolerance curve though not through the release of insulin.
