title: [Oral glucose tolerance test reevaluated in 68 subjects for its validity in growth hormone secretors].
abstract: The aim of this research was to establish both the frequency and the amount of the response of pituitary GH secretion to oral glucose load (OGL) in comparison to the usual, insulin and arginine, stimuli. Previous research on this topic was performed using either a limited number of subjects or experimenting throughout too short a period of time. 68 young subjects, 50 males and 18 females, aged 6-17 years, were studied. All 68 subjects underwent three stimuli of pituitary GH secretion: oral glucose and i.v. administered insulin and arginine. Patients were divided, according to our clinical knowledge and that of Tanner and Co. into: 1) responders, characterized by a plasma GH peak greater than 6 ng/ml, following at least one of the three stimuli; 2) non-responders, characterized by a plasma GH peak inferior to 6 ng/ml, following all three stimuli. A positive response was obtained by OGL in 79.68% of subjects, while a positive response was obtained by insulin stimulus in 72.58% and by arginine stimulus in 77.77%. The presence of positive response to OGL is not correlated to the patients age. The amount of the response, i.e. the mean of plasma GH peaks is similar using both OGL (11.92 +/- 8.57 SD) and insulin stimulus (11.75 +/- 7.48 SD). Some patients (8.82%) responded only to OGL stimulus, lacking a response to arginine and insulin stimuli. The authors emphasized the use of OGL because it is devoid of side reactions and because it simultaneously allows an evaluation of both glucose tolerance and insulin secretion capacity.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001120:Arginine; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005951:Glucose Tolerance Test / Q000379:methods*; D013006:Growth Hormone / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin; D008297:Male; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D013006:Growth Hormone; D001120:Arginine
vernacular_title: Il test da carico orale di glucosio ricontrollato in 68 soggetti per la sua validita' GH-secretoria.