Failure to confirm the existence of short-latency, short-loop feedback regulation (autoregulation) of growth hormone secretion in the human.

That growth hormone (GH) regulates its own secretion by negative feedback both directly and indirectly via somatomedins has been well-documented in the rat and assumed, on the basis of limited studies, to be true for man as well. Prior to proceeding with studies designed to investigate the nature of this feedback in various endocrine states, we sought first to confirm the existence of direct, short-latency GH feedback in normal individuals. Primed, continuous rate infusions of human GH in normal volunteers achieved a range of steady state GH levels. After 1 h of GH infusion, arginine HCl (500 mg/kg) was infused over 30 min and the GH response assessed. Seven of 8 subjects achieved steady state GH levels in the 8-21 ng/ml range with an infusion rate of 0.0045 U/min following a 0.277 U bolus. After arginine, there was a significant increment of GH levels (range 11.6-69.5 ng/ml) in all 7 subjects. With a higher infusion rate of 0.009 U/min following a 0.54 U bolus, 1 of 2 subjects reached a steady state of 31.0 ng/ml and no response to arginine was demonstrable. Two subjects reached steady state levels of 45.0 and 58 ng/ml during a 0.018 U/min infusion after a 1.08 U bolus and had increments of 26.2 and 25.9 ng/ml following arginine. In 3 subjects achieving levels of 64.5, 107.0 and 132.0 ng/ml, there were increments of 55.0, 61.7 and 13.0 ng/ml during infusions of 0.036 U/min following boluses of 2.16 U. However, only in the first of these 3 was a true steady state achieved.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)