Effect of growth hormone-releasing hormone and clonidine on growth hormone release in type 1 diabetic patients

We administered growth-hormone releasing hormone (GHRH), clonidine or thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) as intravenous boli each in three different randomized mornings to nine well-controlled Type 1 diabetic men and to six age-matched healthy men who served as controls. GHRH and clonidine evoked a prompt and brisk GH release both in diabetic and in control subjects with no significant difference being evident between the two groups. Only one diabetic subject showed a paradoxical GH release after TRH when he was under long-term poor metabolic control. These results indicate that in insulin-dependent patients with good control of the metabolic disease the response of somatotropes to pituitary- or central nervous system-directed stimuli is normal. These data are supportive of the idea that altered GH secretion in Type 1 diabetes rather than reflecting a primary hypothalamic and/or pituitary alteration may be a state-dependent phenomenon related to the metabolic state of the disease.