Intersubject viability in growth hormone time course during different types of work

This study addresses the question of variability of immunoreactive human growth hormone (IRHGH) response to the following types of muscular exercise. 1) One hour of submaximal exercise with restarting for 30 min after 20 min of recovery. Three types of responses were observed: a rise of [IRHGH] occurred in response to muscular activity; [IRHGH] was maintained at rest level during the first bout and then rose in the second bout; or [IRHGH] rose during the first bout and was no longer modified by the restarting. 2) Thirty minutes of heavy exercise. In some subjects [IRHGH] change was almost linear with time, reaching very high values and dropping as soon as exercise had stopped, whereas in others peak values were similar to those of submaximal exercise but, in contrast, plateaued during recovery. 3) One hour of exercise performed either continuously or with alternate sequences of 30-s exercise and 30-s pause. In intermittent exercise, some subjects displayed a similar time course of [IRHGH] as in continuous exercise and others displayed markedly high values. 4) One hour of submaximal exercise at three different intensities carried out at ambient temperatures of 24 and 33 degrees C. At 33 degrees C, in some subjects, [IRHGH] time course at the three intensities was unchanged at 33 degrees C compared with that at 24 degrees C, whereas the maximal value increased in another subject up to 150 ng X ml-1. A significant intrasubject consistency to a given type of exercise was evident over several months. The study emphasizes that caution should be used in drawing definite conclusions from averaged results with high variability.