INCREASED THYROTROPHIN SECRETION INDUCED BY SULPIRIDE IN MAN

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Abstract
Sulpiride (100 mg i.m.) (a dopamine-receptor-blockng drug) led to a significant rise in plasma TSH [thyrotropin] in normal women, in female patients with galactorrhea, and, to a much more marked degree, in male and female patients with primary hypothyroidism. In the hypothyroid patients, there was a significant positive correlation between basal TSH and its maximum increment after sulpiride. The drug proved to be an even more potent stimulator of PRL [prolactin], at least in subjects with normal blood PRL. Normal males displayed no significant changes in TSH after sulpiride. Continuous administration (150 mg/day orally for 15 days) also resulted in enhancement of TSH in normal women. TSH release is apparently controlled by a dopaminergic mechanism in man. The more accentuated TSH respone in hypothyroid patients may perhaps be attributable to the absence of negative-feedback on the part of thyroid hormones.