Histology of skeletal muscle in adults with GH deficiency: comparison with normal muscle and response to GH treatment.
The histology of needle biopsy specimens of skeletal muscle from the vastus lateralis was quantitatively assessed in a group of adults with growth hormone (GH) deficiency, most of whom had hypopituitarism treated with conventional pituitary hormone replacement. The mean age of the 21 patients (16 males and 5 females) was 39 +/- 2 (SEM). Comparisons were made with age- and sex-matched controls following six months double-blind, placebo-controlled treatment with recombinant human GH (rhGH) in the GH-deficient patients. Before treatment, needle muscle biopsies from patients with GH deficiency showed mean type I and II fibre areas of 5,153 +/- 273 and 4,828 +/- 312 microns 2 respectively, which did not differ from the controls (4,482 +/- 306 and 4,699 +/- 310 microns 2). Percentages of type I fibres were similar in the two groups (47.2 +/- 2.5% in GH deficiency and 45.3 +/- 2.2% in controls). No difference in the variability of type I or II fibre areas was demonstrated between the groups. Correlations between the relative contribution to total fibre area by type I fibres (mean fibre area x percent) and maximal oxygen uptake (p = 0.006), and between type II fibres and quadriceps force (p = 0.035) were noted in GH-deficient adults before treatment. Following rhGH treatment, no change was noted in mean fibre areas, variability of fibre areas, or percentage of either fibre type.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Cuneo
R C
RC
Division of Medicine, UMDS, St. Thomas' Hospital, London, UK.
Salomon
F
F
Wiles
C M
CM
Round
J M
JM
Jones
D
D
Hesp
R
R
Sönksen
P H
PH
D000328:Adult; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D013006:Growth Hormone / Q000172:deficiency* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009132:Muscles / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D010101:Oxygen Consumption
D013006:Growth Hormone