title: Age related secretary pattern of growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor-I & insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 in postmenopausal women.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  After menopause in women, loss of bone density increases rapidly with estrogen deficiency. Evidence has revealed that this deficiency may be directly correlated with growth hormone (GH) level declining with age. The present study was designed to evaluate the age dependant patterns of GH, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF1-1) and insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) endogenous secretion in postmenopausal women.
  
  
  METHODS
  During this prospective study in a 12-month period, 150 postmenopausal women were enrolled who were referred to the densitometry unit of bone research centre of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences for assessing bone mineral density. Serum levels of basal and clonidine stimulated GH were measured using radioimmunoassay while IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 were measured by ELISA. Post stimulation over 3 to 6 fold increase in GH over the baseline level was considered normal response and less increase was considered abnormal.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significant differences in the mean levels of GH0, GH60 and GH90 in different age groups of postmenopausal women. No significant difference in the mean IGFBP-3 and IGF-1 levels was seen in different age groups of postmenopausal women. The number of postmenopausal women with abnormal response to stimulation by clonidine in 61-70 and > 70 yr age groups was higher than in other groups (P< 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite the higher rate of abnormal response to stimulation by clonidine in women aged more than 60 yr, the current study showed no significant correlation between age, and the basal and stimulated GH secretion rate and serum levels of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 in postmenopausal women.
authors.forename: Akbar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aliasgarzadeh
authors.forename: Morteza
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghojazadeh
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Haji-Hoseini
authors.forename: Faezeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mehanfar
authors.forename: Reza
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Piri
authors.affiliation: Medical Philosophy & History Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran, .
authors.forename: Mohammad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Naghavi-Behzad
authors.forename: Nariman
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nezami
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D003000:Clonidine; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D019382:Human Growth Hormone / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D018972:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3 / Q000097:blood*; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000378:metabolism*; D017698:Postmenopause / Q000378:metabolism*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011863:Radioimmunoassay
chemical_list: C583557:IGF1 protein, human; C515497:IGFBP3 protein, human; D018972:Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein 3; D019382:Human Growth Hormone; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I; D003000:Clonidine