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Variations of pulsatile growth hormone release in healthy short prepubertal boys
J R Kerrigan1, P M Martha, R M Blizzard
1Department of Pediatrics, University of Virginia Health Sciences Center, Charlottesville 22908.
Insights
Short prepubertal boys with delayed skeletal age showed reduced growth hormone (GH) pulse amplitude and area. This suggests amplitude-modulated GH release may impact growth in some short children.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Endocrinology
- Growth Hormone Physiology
- Biomedical Signal Processing
Background:
- Growth hormone (GH) secretion is pulsatile, crucial for childhood growth.
- Assessing GH pulsatility objectively is key to understanding growth disorders.
- Short stature in prepubertal children requires investigation into GH secretion patterns.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate overnight GH pulsatility in short prepubertal boys.
- To compare GH release characteristics between normal, short, and GH-deficient children.
- To explore the relationship between GH pulse characteristics and growth velocity.
Main Methods:
- Frequent overnight venous sampling for GH measurement.
- Application of the CLUSTER algorithm for objective GH pulse detection.
- Comparison of pulsatile GH parameters across different subject groups.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in overall pulsatile GH release between normal and short boys.
- A subset of short boys with delayed skeletal age exhibited reduced GH pulse area and amplitude.
- A significant positive correlation was found between growth velocity and the sum of GH pulse amplitudes.
Conclusions:
- Suboptimal growth in some short prepubertal children may be linked to altered amplitude-modulated GH release.
- The CLUSTER algorithm effectively analyzes GH pulsatility.
- GH pulse amplitude is a critical factor in determining growth velocity.
Abstract:
Overnight growth hormone (GH) concentrations obtained by frequent venous sampling of 20 healthy, short prepubertal boys were evaluated using the objective pulse detection algorithm, CLUSTER. The resulting pulsatile characteristics were compared with those of 11 healthy prepubertal boys of normal stature and with those of nine prepubertal children with documented GH deficiency. Although no significant differences of pulsatile GH release were found between the normal and short subjects, a subset of the short prepubertal boys with significantly delayed skeletal ages had subnormal sum of GH pulse areas and sum of GH pulse amplitudes. The finding of a significant correlation in all subjects between growth velocity and the sum of GH pulse amplitudes is important, as the results are compatible with the hypothesis that alterations of amplitude-modulated GH release underlie the pathophysiology of suboptimal growth in some short prepubertal children.