Neural Regulation of Growth Hormone Secretion

Abstract

IN the decade since Glick and his co-workers¹ first described a reliable radioimmunoassay for measurement of growth hormone (GH) in plasma, considerable information has accumulated concerning the factors that control the secretion of this hormone. Thus, it has been shown that fasting, stress, onset of sleep, arginine infusion, alterations in protein intake, changes in plasma glucose levels, and the administration of L-dopa, glucagon or vasopressin all acutely affect plasma GH levels. Reviews of the effects of many of these factors on GH secretion have recently appeared (Glick² and Brown and Reichlin³). Although the physiologic importance of many of these . . .