Human Growth Hormone Secretion after Double Stimulation with Arginine in Normal and Insulin-dependent Diabetic Women

The standard intravenous arginine test was modified by infusing two equal doses of arginine eighty minutes apart. The serum growth hormone, blood glucose and plasma free fatty acid responses were studied in fifteen young juvenileonset diabetic women and in seven healthy women of comparable age and weight. The biphasic growth hormone response to the two arginine infusions observed in normals did not occur in the diabetics. In addition, the diabetics differed from the normals in several qualitative aspects of growth hormone secretion. A derangement in the diabetic is postulated with impaired sensitivity or defective mechanism of growth hormone secretion. Diabetics with chronically elevated blood glucose levels had a blunted growth hormone response to arginine. In five patients with diabetic retinopathy, growth hormone response was somewhat blunted, probably due to higher blood glucose levels, as compared with findings in five patients without this complication.