Interrelation between plasma amino acid composition and growth hormone secretion in patients with liver cirrhosis.

We examined the possibility that abnormalities of growth hormone (GH) release in cirrhotic patients were related to a reduction in the ratio of branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) to aromatic amino acids (AAAs) in plasma. The intravenous infusion of 250 micrograms of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) caused a significant rise in plasma GH greater than 5 ng/ml and more than twice as much as the basal levels in 7 out of 15 patients (responders) but an insignificant rise in the remaining patients (non-responders). The difference in the basal GH level was not significant. The oral glucose load suppressed plasma GH in all of the normal subjects and 6 of 7 non-responders, while it was elevated in 6 of 7 responders and one of the non-responders. The ratio of BCAAs to AAAs in the plasma of cirrhotic patients was 1.21 +/- 0.38, which was significantly lower than that of normal subjects (3.31 +/- 0.42, p less than 0.01). In addition, there was a significant difference between responders and non-responders in the ratios (0.96 +/- 0.22 vs 1.42 +/- 0.36, p less than 0.05). An inversely significant correlation (p less than 0.05) between the ratios of BCAAs to AAAs in plasma and the peak levels of GH after TRH injection was observed when all subjects were combined, but no correlation was found between the ratios and the peak levels of GH after oral glucose loading. There were also significant correlations (p less than 0.01) between the ratios and various parameters including the serum albumin, cholinesterase and indocyanine green disappearance rate constant (KICG).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)