Am J Psychiatry 1975; 132:1149-1154
Copyright © 1975 by American Psychiatric Association
Growth hormone catecholamines in affective disease
DL Garver, GN Pandey, H Dekirmenjian and F Deleon-Jones
The authors studied growth hormone (GH) release after insulin-induced
hypoglycemia (HI) in relation to urinary MHPG, the major metabolite of
central norepinephrine. There was a significant linear correlation of
urinary MHPG levels and GH peaks after HI in unipolar depressed patients
and in manic patients; however, GH peaks in manic patients shifted downward
on the GH axis in comparison to the unipolar depressive patients. The
authors suggest that such shifts in the GH response may occur as a result
of abnormalities of other neurotransmitter systems also known to facilitate
GH release.
