THE APPLICATION OF DECONVOLUTION ANALYSIS TO ELUCIDATE THE PULSATILE NATURE OF GROWTH-HORMONE SECRETION USING A VARIABLE HALF-LIFE OF GROWTH-HORMONE

A deconvolution analysis model to calculate pituitary growth hormone (GH) secretion rate from measured serum GH concentration has been developed. This uses an iterative method of‘curve‐stripping’based on an estimate of the half‐life. The model has been applied to serum GH profiles and demonstrates that GH secretion occurs in discrete bursts with quiescent periods between secretory episodes, an‘on‐off’phenomenon. The model can clearly dissect complicated concentration profiles such as the serum GH concentration response to growth hormone releasing hormone. The estimate was derived from calculating the half‐life of serum GH in 10 subjects following an intravenous bolus injection of 50 mU of biosynthetic human growth hormone (b‐hGH) and following infusions of the exogenous hormone (3 mU/kg/h) for 15, 30, 60 and 180 min. Endogenous GH secretion was suppressed by a continuous infusion of somatostatin (1‐14). An asymptotic relationship between the duration of GH infusion and the GH half‐life was established. A half‐life of 15.3 min was achieved after exposure to GH for 60 min and a maximum half‐life of 15.7 min after 180 min exposure. Copyright © 1990, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved