title: Usefulness of urinary growth hormone (GH) measurement for evaluating endogenous GH secretion in acromegaly.
abstract: We investigated the relationship between urinary growth hormone (u-GH) and spontaneous 24-hour plasma GH secretion in 15 acromegalic patients. To measure u-GH, we have developed a method based on concentrating the sample by centrifugal ultrafiltration and then performing an immunoradiometric assay using commercially available reagents. u-GH correlated well with the integrated concentration of plasma GH (r = 0.66, p < 0.02). Additionally, u-GH excretion in acromegalic patients was significantly higher than in the control group (190 +/- 100 vs. 3.89 +/- 0.56 pg/min, mean +/- SEM, p < 0.001). Immunoreactive u-GH showed the same elution pattern in Sephadex G-75 as standard or labeled hGH, proving that the substance measured in urine is authentic GH. In conclusion, u-GH appears to be a simple, noninvasive and inexpensive test for evaluating GH secretion in active acromegaly.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Hormonas, Hospital General d'Alacant, Alicante, Espana.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mauri
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Picó
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Alfayate
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Dominguez
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cámara
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Miralles
mesh_terms: D000172:Acromegaly / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000652:urine*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002850:Chromatography, Gel; D005260:Female; D013006:Growth Hormone / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism / Q000652:urine*; D006801:Humans; D015592:Immunoradiometric Assay / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; D013006:Growth Hormone