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The paradoxical response of growth hormone (GH) to thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) in constitutionally tall children involves a cholinergic pathway

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Abstract

To investigate whether or not a cholinergic pathway is involved in the paradoxical response of GH to TRH in constitutionally tall children, we studied 8 healthy prepubertal children aged $4^{2}/{_{_{12}}} - 7^{10}/{_{_{12}}} {⤪ yr}$, whose heights were over the 95th percentile of the NCHS tables. We defined as “paradoxical” a GH increment greater than 5 ng/ml in response to TRH. Five out of 8 children showed a paradoxical response of GH to TRH (mean GH peak after TRH of 10.7 ± 1.1 ng/ml). Pretreatment with atropine (0.01 mg/kg IM 30 min prior to the TRH administration) abolished the TRH induced GH rise (peak GH after TRH of 1.5 ± 1.0 ng/ml, p < 0.01) but did not modify the TSH response (peak TSH after TRH: basal conditions 8.7 ± 0.8 μU/ml, post atropine: 9.5 ± 1.4 μU/ml, p > 0.05). Our results demonstrate that a cholinergic pathway is involved in the paradoxical response of GH to TRH in constitutionally tall children.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Endocrinologia, Metabolismo y Nutricion y Laboratorio de Endocrinologia Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile

    Eugenio Arteaga M.D.

  2. Departamento de Pediatria, Escuela de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile

    P. Valenzuelaa, A. Cattani & M. del Valle

Authors
  1. Eugenio Arteaga M.D.
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  2. P. Valenzuelaa
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  3. A. Cattani
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  4. M. del Valle
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Additional information

This work was supported in part by grant PG 7/85, School of Medicine, Catholic University of Chile and grants from Comisión Nacional de Investigación Cientffica y Tecnológica (CONICYT 533/85) and Dirección de Investigación de la Universidad Católica de Chile (DIUC 102/85). It was presented as an abstract at the 69th Annual Meeting of the Endocrine Society, Indianapolis, 1987 (abstract no 931).

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Arteaga, E., Valenzuelaa, P., Cattani, A. et al. The paradoxical response of growth hormone (GH) to thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) in constitutionally tall children involves a cholinergic pathway. J Endocrinol Invest 12, 543–548 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03350756

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