Endocrine Abstracts

A 35 year-old lady presented with classical acromegaly. Headache was a significant feature of her presentation. An oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) confirmed acromegaly, with growth hormone (GH) levels of 21.6, 21.5, 27.0, 25.0 and 24.7 mU/l at 0, 30, 60, 90 and 120 minutes respectively. A large pituitary tumour invading the left cavernous sinus was found. Trans-sphenoidal hypophysectomy lowered GH levels but did not provide biochemical cure (10.2, 7.2, 8.1, 9.6, 9.3 mU/l). ...

Ghrelin is a 28 amino acid n-octanoylated peptide which is the natural agonist for the growth hormone secretagogue receptor and which potently stimulates GH release in vivo (1). We studied the effects of a somatostatin infusion on Ghrelin release in normal subjects.STUDY PROTOCOLFour females and five males, 25-40 years of age, body mass index < 28 kg per m2 were studied. Local ethics committee permission was obtained for ...