IMPAIRED RESPONSES OF GROWTH HORMONE AND BLOOD EOSINOPHILS TO L-DOPA IN ATOPY

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Abstract
To assess whether response to the natural precursor of catecholamines in the nervous system is impaired in atopy, 500 mg L-dopa was administered to 13 atopic patients with bronchial asthma or hay fever and 13 sex-and-age-matched control subjects. The blood eosinophil count and growth hormone (GH) levels were then determined periodically over a 4 h period. The eosinophil count rose significantly 30 and 60 min after L-dopa in healthy subjects, but not in the atopic patients. The mean rise in GH 30 and 60 min after L-dopa was significantly lower in atopic patients as compared with controls. Injection of apomorphine 0.75 mg elicited increase in GH in 9 of the 10 control subjects, but only in 6 of the II atopic patients. Central dopaminergic stimulation is often impaired in patients with atopy. In testing GH release, atopy should be considered among the causes of failure to respond.