ISOLATED HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE DEFICIENCY .3. INSULIN SECRETION IN SEXUAL ATELIOTIC DWARFISM

Among 24 subjects with monotropic HGH deficiency, two groups can be defined on the basis of sensitivity to exogenous insulin and of the plasma insulin response to provocative stimuli. The majority (Group I) exhibit insulin sensitivity, and insulinopenia after intravenous arginine administration and after ingestion of glucose. Short term growth hormone treatment augments the insulin response to glucose, an effect which is not accountable for by the degree of peripheral hyperglycemia. Results from Group I sexual ateliotics are in agreement with the previously suggested insulinotropic effect of HGH, and suggest that in addition to its anti-insulin action, HGH may have a direct insulinotropic effect upon the pancreatic beta cell. Four sexual ateliotics (Group II) show greater than normal insulin responses to glucose and to arginine, and do not exhibit sensitivity to exogenous insulin. The circulation of an altered growth hormone molecule, possessing selective biological activity but being undetectable by immunological assay, could account for these findings. © 1968.