Ghrelin Secretion in Humans Is Sexually Dimorphic, Suppressed by Somatostatin, and Not Affected by the Ambient Growth Hormone Levels

We studied plasma ghrelin and GH concentrations over a 24-h period in young healthy men and women and in patients with acromegaly. Healthy subjects were restudied after administration of GH-lowering agents, octreotide or GHRH antagonist. Ghrelin concentrations in women studied during the late follic...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism 2003-05, Vol.88 (5), p.2180-2184
Main Authors: Barkan, Ariel L., Dimaraki, Eleni V., Jessup, Stacy K., Symons, Kathleen V., Ermolenko, Mikhail, Jaffe, Craig A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acromegaly - blood
Adult
Biological and medical sciences
Circadian Rhythm
Endocrinopathies
Female
Follicular Phase
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Ghrelin
Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone - antagonists & inhibitors
Hormones
Hormones and neuropeptides. Regulation
Human Growth Hormone - blood
Humans
Hypothalamus. Hypophysis. Epiphysis (diseases)
Hypothalamus. Hypophysis. Epiphysis. Urophysis
Male
Medical sciences
Non tumoral diseases. Target tissue resistance. Benign neoplasms
Octreotide
Peptide Hormones - blood
Peptide Hormones - secretion
Receptors, Neuropeptide - antagonists & inhibitors
Receptors, Pituitary Hormone-Regulating Hormone - antagonists & inhibitors
Sex Characteristics
Somatostatin - pharmacology
Vertebrates: endocrinology
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We studied plasma ghrelin and GH concentrations over a 24-h period in young healthy men and women and in patients with acromegaly. Healthy subjects were restudied after administration of GH-lowering agents, octreotide or GHRH antagonist. Ghrelin concentrations in women studied during the late follicular stage of the cycle were about 3-fold higher than in men. Suppression of GH secretion by GHRH antagonist did not alter ghrelin concentration profiles. In the presence of high GH levels (acromegaly), ghrelin levels were similar to those found in healthy men. Administration of somatostatin analog octreotide suppressed both GH and ghrelin concentration profiles. We conclude that: 1) ghrelin secretion is sexually dimorphic in humans, with women in the late follicular stage having higher levels than men; 2) ghrelin secretion is suppressed by somatostatin; and 3) GH has no influence over ghrelin secretion.
ISSN:0021-972X
1945-7197
DOI:10.1210/jc.2002-021169