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We have recently developed a new bioassay for growth hormone (GH) in serum, which is based on the ability of GH to suppress glucose use in cultured murine adipocytes. We tested the hypothesis that bioactive GH (B-GH) concentrations would correlate better with the GH-dependent peptides, IGF-I, and IGF-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) than would GH determined by conventional RIA (RIA-GH). Twenty-five girls with Turner's syndrome were studied. The subjects had ages ranging from 4.8 to 15.9 y and height SD from the mean (SD score) ranging from -0.77 to -5.67. Blood samples were obtained every 15 or 20 min for 12 h overnight. For each girl, an equal aliquot of each overnight sample was pooled for determination of B-GH, RIA-GH, IGF-I, IGFBP-3, LH, FSH, and estradiol. Measurable estradiol concentrations were present in six girls and were sufficient to suppress gonadotropin concentrations in two girls, but they did not alter B-GH, RIA-GH, IGF-I, and IGFBP-3 concentrations compared with the age-matched girls without measurable estradiol concentrations. Hence, data for all girls were combined for subsequent regression analyses. RIA-GH did not correlate significantly with B-GH, IGF-I, or IGFBP-3. B-GH exhibited a significant correlation with IGF-I (r = 0.407, p < 0.05), and the correlation with IGFBP-3 was better than that for RIA-GH (r = 0.355 versus 0.064, B-GH and RIA-GH, respectively). None of the B-GH, RIA-GH, IGF-I, or IGFBP-3 concentrations had a significant correlation with height SD score or height velocity SD score.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The effects of opiate antagonism [naloxone infusion, 1 mg/(m2 X h)] on gonadotropin secretion were examined in four children (one female and three males: two late prepubertal and two pubertal; chronologic age, range 11.8-15.9 yr; bone age, range 8.5-13.5 yr) and in four women with hypothalamic amenorrhea (two at normal body weight and two at low body weight). Naloxone had no effect on daytime gonadotropin secretion in three children who were biologically the youngest in the group, two late prepubertal and one early pubertal [plasma luteinizing hormone (LH) means +/- SE: control day, 1.2 +/- 0.1; control night, 4.5 +/- 0.4; and naloxone day, 1.3 +/- 0.1 mIU/ml]. In contrast, opiate blockade produced a slight but discernible increase in plasma LH in the child whose hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis was the most mature, a boy at mid-puberty. Naloxone produced a striking increase in plasma LH in the amenorrheic women at normal body weight (LH, means +/- SE: control day, 3.4 +/- 0.3; control night, 7.0 +/- 1.0; and naloxone day, 7.4 +/- 0.7 mIU/ml) as well as in those at low body weight (LH, means +/- SE: control day, 3.5 +/- 0.3; control night, 2.8 +/- 0.2; naloxone day, 4.9 +/- 0.4; and naloxone night, 6.7 +/- 0.5 mIU/ml). Antagonism of endogenous opiate activity increased LH pulse frequency in all four women.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Information about the site(s) of action as well as the age-dependent effects of sex steroids on gonadotropin-releasing hormone and gonadotropin secretion during human puberty is limited. To begin to address these questions, we evaluated the effects of a depot preparation of testosterone (testosterone enanthate) on gonadotropin secretion and pituitary responses to synthetic GnRH in 10, early to mid-pubertal boys who had either isolated GH deficiency (n-2) or delayed adolescent maturation (n-8). Chronological and bone age ranges were 13 1/12-16 1/12 and 11-14 yr, respectively. Frequent blood withdrawal studies (every 20 min for 20 consecutive h) were performed in the Clinical Research Center over two consecutive weekends. Following each study, gonadotropin responses to GnRH (0.25 microgram/kg iv bolus) were determined. During the initial study, all boys showed a sleep-entrained increase in luteinizing hormone (LH) and testosterone (T) secretion; mean nocturnal concentrations of LH and T were 2.3-fold greater than daytime values. At the end of the first study, testosterone enanthate was given im (0, 25, 50, or 75 mg/m2). Six days later, mean plasma T concentrations were in the pubertal to mid adult male range and were constant throughout the day: 25 mg/m2, 3.7 +/- 0.4 (SE) ng/ml; 50 mg/m2, 4.6 +/- 0.2 ng/ml; and 75 mg/m2, 6.7 +/- 0.4 ng/ml. T treatment had no effect on pituitary responses to GnRH: mean LH increment was 8.5 mIU/ml before and 10.0 mIU/ml after T treatment.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Chronic exposure to testosterone (T) increases growth hormone (GH) secretion. To determine whether acute exposure to T would also enhance GH secretion, we infused saline, followed 1 wk later by T, for 18-24 h at one-third the adult male production rate in 12 pubertal boys and at the adult male production rate in eight additional pubertal boys. Blood was obtained every 20 min for GH and every 30 min for T from 2000-0800 h. Though infusion significantly increased serum T concentrations in all 20 boys, mean GH concentration, GH pulse frequency, and GH pulse amplitude did not increase compared to the saline infusion night. The secretory dynamics of GH as a function of 3-h time blocks from 2000-0800 h were also determined in the eight boys who received the higher dose of T. The profile for mean GH concentration, pulse frequency, pulse amplitude, and peak area were not affected by acute infusion of T at concentrations sufficient to alter LH secretion. This suggests that, at least in pubertal boys, one must be exposed to T for a period longer than 12-18 h to induce increased GH secretion.