Biomedical subjects

B Erster

Publications and source records attributed to B Erster.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

Growth hormone therapy in normal short children induces a transitory decrease in plasma growth hormone releasing hormone levels and in human growth hormone responsiveness to exogenous growth hormone releasing hormone.

A three-month study of the effect of growth hormone (hGH) therapy (0.1 U/kg/day sc) on plasma levels of GH releasing hormone (GHRH), somatostatin and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and on the hGH responsiveness to exogenous GHRH was carried out in 32 prepubertal short-stature children with normal GH secretion. Blood samples were collected prior to initiation of therapy, and at 5, 30 and 90 days of onset of therapy, as well as 2 and 90 days after termination of therapy. The nonconventional hGH therapy induced an increase in serum IGF-I levels which lasted as long as therapy was continued. Plasma GHRH levels showed an early transitory decrease after five days of therapy, whereas plasma somatostatin levels were unaltered. A slight suppression in hGH responsiveness to exogenous GHRH was found at 2 but not at 90 days after termination of hGH therapy. It is concluded that nonconventional hGH treatment does not cause permanent changes in physiological hGH secretion.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1991

Biochemical and hormonal changes induced by one week of administration of rIGF-I to patients with Laron type dwarfism.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the effectiveness of short-term administration of recombinant biosynthetic IGF-I on patients with an hereditary inability to generate this hormone. DESIGN AND PATIENTS: Ten patients with Laron type dwarfism (LTD) (4 males, six females) aged 3 1/2 to 37 3/4 years were submitted to seven daily s.c. injections of recombinant IGF-I in doses of 120 or 150 micrograms/kg/day. MEASUREMENTS: Blood samples were drawn before, after three and seven injections, and one week after stopping the trial. RESULTS: The main biochemical and hormonal changes registered were (mean +/- SD): a marked rise in serum type III procollagen (PIIINP) from 4.2 +/- 0.9 to 7.3 +/- 2 micrograms/l (P less than 0.0003) and decrease in the following blood components: plasma hGH from 32.51 +/- 43.77 to 4.02 +/- 2.48 mU/l (P less than 0.001), serum cholesterol from 5.9 +/- 1 to 5.7 +/- 0.8 mmol/l (P less than 0.04), serum SGOT from 28.9 +/- 11.6 to 15.5 +/- 7.6 U/l (P less than 0.01) and serum LDH from 286 +/- 88 to 222 +/- 37 U/l (P less than 0.0005). The response of plasma insulin was variable, decreasing in seven of ten and increasing in three. Some of these effects were transitory, and were found after 3 days therapy but afterwards decreased (insulin, cholesterol and liver tests), others persisted throughout the whole treatment period (hGH, PIINP). CONCLUSIONS: IGF-I mimics the biochemical and hormonal changes described after administration of hGH. The administration of IGF-I in patients with Laron type dwarfism is devoid of side-effects and warrants assessment in long-term studies.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1990

Intravenous administration of recombinant IGF-I lowers serum GHRH and TSH.

Recombinant IGF-I was administered as an iv bolus of 75 micrograms/kg to 10 patients with Laron type dwarfism (3 children aged 9, 11 and 12 years and 7 adults aged 30.6 +/- 3.5 years) and to 8 healthy subjects (mean age 19.9 +/- 12.1 years) and determinations of IGF-I, GHRH, hGH, TSH, and glucose were made before and at 2, 5, 15, 30, 60, 90, and 120 min. The following effects were observed: a. an immediate, marked and sustained drop in blood glucose (p less than 0.001), more prolonged in the patients; b. in both groups, a dramatic rise in plasma hGH (p less than 0.01) which peaked at 60-90 min; in the patients this occurred after an initial immediate fall in plasma hGH (p less than 0.01); c. a progressive decrease of plasma GHRH and TSH (p less than 0.05, 0.02) in both patients and healthy controls. An hypothesis is put forward that acute and time-limited release of somatostatin by IGF-I is the main cause of the hormonal changes registered. As the IGF-I bolus also suppressed circulating insulin levels, the hypoglycemia is considered to be a direct effect of IGF-I.

Adult↗

PubMed1989

Serum growth hormone binding protein activity in healthy neonates, children and young adults: correlation with age, height and weight.

Serum growth hormone binding protein (GHBP) activity was estimated in healthy neonates (n = 6), children and adolescents (n = 97) and young adults (n = 19). GHBP activity was measured by incubating 125I-hGH (human growth hormone) (approximately 25,000 c.p.m.) with serum (100 microliters) in the presence and in the absence of excess unlabelled hGH, followed by separation of specifically bound 125I-hGHBP complexes from free 125I-hGH by gel filtration on Ultrogel AcA44 minicolumns. The results are expressed as the percentage specific binding relative to an adult reference serum (%RSB), after correction for endogenous hGH of the unknown serum. The between-assay coefficients of variation for two sera of %RSB activity of 51.2 and 115.4% were 6.0 and 7.0% respectively. In neonates, low values of serum GHBP were found (%RSB = 27.1 +/- 5.0 SEM) followed by a major rise during the first 6 years of life to a mean value (%RSB = 68.3 +/- 4.1 SEM) which more than doubled that of neonates. Thereafter, values rose progressively throughout childhood and puberty to reach maximum values in young adults (%RSB = 95.0 +/- 3.1 SEM). A novel observation was that serum GHBP activity correlated significantly with height standard deviation score (SDS) (males: r = 0.77, P less than 0.001; females: r = 0.56, P = 0.01) and weight SDS (P less than 0.001) for both sexes before puberty. During puberty GHBP correlated only with weight SDS in males (r = 0.60, P less than 0.01). In all age groups studied, no correlation could be found between serum GHBP and height velocity.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1989

Serum GH binding protein activities identifies the heterozygous carriers for Laron type dwarfism.

Measurement of GH-binding protein activity and IGF-I was carried out in the sera of 13 patients with Laron type dwarfism, a syndrome caused by a lack of GH receptors which leads to impairment of IGF-I generation, and those of 16 of their close relatives. GH binding protein activity was measured by incubating 125I-hGH with 100 microliters serum in the presence and in the absence of excess unlabelled hGH, followed by separation of specifically bound 125I-hGH binding protein complexes from free 125I-hGH by gel filtration. The results are expressed as percent specific binding relative to an adult reference serum. IGF-I was determined by RIA after acid extraction on octadecylsilane silica columns. All Laron type dwarfism patients had no, or only negligible GH binding protein activity, which supports the evidence that serum GH binding protein corresponds to the extracellular domain of the membranal GH receptor. Eight of the 16 relatives had serum GH binding protein activity more than 2 SD below the mean for age, a finding considered to denote heterozygocity for their molecular defect disease. The significant correlation (p less than 0.001) between serum GH binding protein activity and IGF-I levels supports this conclusion. The ability to define heterozygotes of Laron type dwarfism will be helpful in genetic counselling.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1988

Effect of acute administration of insulin-like growth factor I in patients with Laron-type dwarfism.

Biosynthetic insulin-type growth factor I (IGF-I) was given as an intravenous bolus of 75 micrograms/kg to 9 patients with Laron-type dwarfism. Rapid onset of hypoglycaemia (-45% of basal level) was associated with a reduction in plasma insulin (-55% of basal level); thus, the lack of growth hormone receptors in this condition does not apply to IGF-I receptors and post-receptor pathways. Long-term treatment may therefore be beneficial in Laron-type dwarfism.

Adult↗