Responsiveness of pituitary hGH to GRH1-44 in juveniles with obesity

Abstract
The response of plasma hGH to an iv bolus injection of GRH1-44 (1 .mu.g/kg) was studied in 14 obese juveniles with a mean overweight of 4.7 .+-. 0.05 standard deviation score (SDS). Two patterns of response were observed: in all 7 adolescents with ''simple'' obesity not related to any particular disorder (group A) the response was good (a mean of 11.8 .+-. 2.4 ng/ml) whereas in 6 of the 7 juveniles suffering from syndromes associated with obesity (group B) the response was poor (a mean of 3.2 .+-. 1.4 ng/ml). This divergence in response could not be related to a difference in the degree of overweight. These results indicate that in group B with syndromes associated with obesity there may also be a pituitary impairment in addition to the hypothalamic defect.