STUDIES OF SECRETION AND METABOLIC EFFECTS OF HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE IN CHILDREN WITH GLUCOCORTICOID-INDUCED GROWTH RETARDATION

Plasma growth hormone responses to insulin-induced hypoglycemia, orally administered glucose, and the intravenous infusion of arginine were normal in 4 children with growth retardation secondary to prolonged treatment with glucocorticoids. The short-term administration of growth hormone to 3 of these subjects resulted in nitrogen retention comparable to that observed in a patient with hypopituitarism who was treated similarly. Transient acceleration of linear growth rate was observed when somatotropin was administered to each patient for 6 months. Two of the four patients developed serum gamma globulins capable of binding growth hormone. It has been concluded that glucocorticoids do not suppress growth by inhibition of growth hormone release, but rather by peripheral antagonism to the long-term growth-promoting activities of somatotropin. © 1969 The C. V. Mosby Company.