title: Plasma growth hormone and prolactin response to dopaminergic GABAmimetic and cholinergic stimulation in Huntington's disease.
abstract: We studied the acute effects of pharmacologic stimulation of neurotransmitter systems implicated in growth hormone and prolactin regulation in eight patients with Huntington's disease and matched control subjects. Both apomorphine, a dopamine agonist, and muscimol, a GABA agonist, produced an exaggerated rise in plasma growth hormone levels in the Huntington patients. Neither the growth hormone response to a muscarinic agonist, arecoline, nor the prolactin response to any of these drugs differed in the patients and controls. Loss of somatostatin activity in the hypothalamic-pituitary axis in Huntington's disease could account for these endocrinologic changes.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001058:Apomorphine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001115:Arecoline / Q000494:pharmacology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D013006:Growth Hormone / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D006816:Huntington Disease / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D009118:Muscimol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010080:Oxazoles / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011388:Prolactin / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D010080:Oxazoles; D009118:Muscimol; D001115:Arecoline; D005680:gamma-Aminobutyric Acid; D011388:Prolactin; D013006:Growth Hormone; D001058:Apomorphine; D004298:Dopamine