
studies with human growth hormone
ten dwarfed patients whose short stature was of
varying aetiology were studied by investigation of
some of the metabolic effects of human growth
hormone, 10 mg. being administered daily for a
period of 5 to 9 days.  the patients were maintained
on a constant diet during a preliminary control
period, while receiving hgh, and in 7 patients from
2 to 7 days in the post-hgh period.  hgh produced
a reduction in serum cholesterol, with a
rebound on withdrawal, in 7; a delayed clearance of
fat from the blood after a fat load in 9; and the
appearance of pre-b lipoprotein in the fasting state,
as measured by paper electrophoresis, in all of them.
the fall in serum cholesterol and the rebound on
withdrawal of hgh has some relevance to the
observation that hypercholesterolaemia occurs in
some hypopituitary patients even in the absence of
hypothyroidism.
no change was observed in tests of thyroid and
adrenocortical function during the short-term high
dosage administration of hgh.
hypopituitary patients show a considerable
retention of nitrogen on hgh administration, and
we have confirmed the work of prader and his
colleagues that this provides a valuable diagnostic
test for growth hormone deficiency.  the measurement
of urinary nitrogen excretion after the withdrawal
of hgh also promises to be a useful investigation
in the differential diagnosis of short stature.
nitrogen excretion in the withdrawal phase in
hypopituitary children returns slowly to its pre-hgh
levels; two non-hypopituitary dwarfed
children excreted much more nitrogen in the withdrawal
period than they retained in the hgh
period.  one primordial dwarf showed a negligible
change in urinary nitrogen excretion both in the
hgh and in the post-hgh periods.
