MONOAMINERGIC REGULATION OF GROWTH HORMONE IN THE RAT

The administration of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB) induced a consistent secretory episode of growth hormone (GH) in the morning followed by basal levels of secretion of GH for several hours. The measurement of endogenous noradrenaline, dopamine and serotonin (5-HT) following infusion of GHB showed that dopamine concentrations were significantly increased in the striatum; at the level of the hypothalamus, however, no significant differences were observed between control and GHB-treated animals. The data reported in this study are consistent with the interpretation that the neurotransmitter regulation of GH release and the modulation of hypothalamic gluco-receptor systems are not fundamentally different in rodents and primates. Clonidine, an α-adrenergic agonist, enhanced the peak of GH observed in the morning and caused a rapid increment of GH during the period when it was normally at basal levels. Under the same experimental conditions, dopamine agonists, apomorphine and levodopa, had no effect on GH secretion. The inhibition of catecholamine synthesis by α-methyl-p-tyrosine blocked the secretory episode of GH following administration of GHB and after insulin hypoglycaemia whereas the GH rise induced by clonidine was unchanged. The inhibition of 5-HT synthesis by p-chlorophenylalanine also suppressed the secretory episode of GH seen in the morning and the release of GH induced by hypoglycaemia; both being partly restored in animals pretreated with 5-hydroxytryptamine.