Growth Hormone Response to Clonidine in Obsessive-Compulsive Patients

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Abstract
Summary: We have observed a lesser growth hormone response to intravenous clonidine administration in nine obsessive-compulsive disorder patients meeting research diagnostic criteria than in nine matched controls. The obsessive-compulsive disorder patients had higher plasma free 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol and plasma norepinephrine levels before clonidine than the controls. As blunted growth hormone responses to clonidine are also characteristic of affective disorder patients, these results support other observations of a psychobiologic affinity between these two groups and are also compatible with an association between increased presynaptic noradrenergic activity and decreased post-synaptic receptor responsiveness.