Effect of dopamine, bombesin and cysteamine hydrochloride on plasma growth hormone response to synthetic growth hormone-releasing factor in rats.

In urethane anesthetized rats, an intracerebroventricular (icv) injection of 2 micrograms bombesin 5 min prior to the administration of synthetic human growth hormone-releasing factor (GRF) (1 microgram/kg, iv) inhibited plasma growth hormone (GH) response, while cysteamine hydrochloride (90 mg/kg, sc) administered 150 min beforehand depleted immunoreactive somatostatin content in the pituitary-stalk median eminence and consequently potentiated the response to GRF. Under the same experimental conditions, central injection of 1.89 micrograms (10(-8)M) dopamine hydrochloride or iv administration of L-DOPA (10 mg/kg) did not influence the subsequent plasma GH response to GRF. Results suggest indirectly that bombesin and cysteamine, but not dopamine, predominantly modulate somatostatin release from the hypothalamus.