Serum prolactin and thyrotropin responses to thyrotropin-releasing hormone in men with alcoholic cirrhosis.

The serum concentrations of prolactin (PRL) and thyrotropin (TSH) in 12 males with alcoholic cirrhosis during basal condition and after stimulation with thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) were compared with the concentrations in ten thiazide-treated hypertensive and nine normal men. The basal as well as the TRH-stimulated increase in serum PRL was significantly elevated in the cirrhotic males, while the increase in serum TSH was unchanged, compared with hypertensive and normal men. No correlation between clinical or laboratory parameters and serum PRL was found. Serum estradiol was equal in cirrhotic and control subjects and no correlation was found between serum PRL and serum estradiol. These findings favour the concept that raised serum PRL in cirrhotic patients might be caused by a diminished dopaminergic neurotransmission.