title: Vitamin A levels and growth hormone axis.
abstract: Vitamin A (VA) is required for normal growth and development retinoic acid may be the active metabolite through binding to nuclear receptors. Recently a correlation between nocturnal growth hormone (GH) secretion and VA was was found in short slowly growing children. We determined the 24-hour integrated concentration of GH (IC-GH), GH response to provocative stimuli, IGF-I, IGF-binding protein-3 (IGF-BP3) and GH-binding protein (GH-BP) in 34 prepubertal children (25 m/9 f) 5-10 years of age, height -2.5 to 1.5 SDS and body mass index -1.5 to 1.5 SDS for age and sex. Since folic acid, vitamin B12, IGF-I, cholesterol, triglycerides and VA carrier proteins were normal we assumed that no major nutritional deficiency existed. The correlation matrix of the variates tested were p < 0.05 for VA and IC-GH and p < 0.006 for IGF-BP3. It is suggested that VA might have a direct affect on both ICGH and IGF-BP3.
authors.affiliation: School for Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Raifen
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Altman
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zadik
mesh_terms: D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D018972:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3 / Q000097:blood; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D014801:Vitamin A / Q000097:blood*
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D018972:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3; D014801:Vitamin A; D019382:Human Growth Hormone; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I