title: Synergy of L-arginine and growth hormone (GH)-releasing peptide-2 on GH release: influence of gender.
abstract: We test the hypotheses that 1) growth hormone (GH)-releasing peptide-2 (G) synergizes with L-arginine (A), a compound putatively achieving selective somatostatin withdrawal and 2) gender modulates this synergy on GH secretion. To these ends, 18 young healthy volunteers (9 men and 9 early follicular phase women) each received separate morning intravenous infusions of saline (S) or A (30 g over 30 min) or G (1 microg/kg) or both, in randomly assigned order. Blood was sampled at 10-min intervals for later chemiluminescence assay of serum GH concentrations. Analysis of covariance revealed that the preinjection (basal) serum GH concentrations significantly determined secretagogue responsiveness and that sex (P = 0.02) and stimulus type (P < 0.001) determined the slope of this relationship. Nested ANOVA applied to log-transformed measures of GH release showed that gender determines 1) basal rates of GH secretion, 2) the magnitude of the GH secretory response to A, 3) the rapidity of attaining the GH maximum, and 4) the magnitude or fold (but not absolute) elevation in GH secretion above preinjection basal, as driven by the combination of A and G. In contrast, the emergence of the G and A synergy is sex independent. We conclude that gender modulates key facets of basal and A/G-stimulated GH secretion in young adults.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22908, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wideman
authors.forename: J Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Weltman
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Patrie
authors.forename: C Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Bowers
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Story
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Weltman
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Veldhuis
mesh_terms: D000204:Activity Cycles / Q000187:drug effects; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001120:Arginine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006207:Half-Life; D006728:Hormones / Q000494:pharmacology; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D008163:Luminescent Measurements; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D015233:Models, Statistical; D009842:Oligopeptides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012727:Sex Characteristics
chemical_list: D006728:Hormones; D009842:Oligopeptides; D019382:Human Growth Hormone; D001120:Arginine; C091874:growth hormone-releasing peptide-2