Abstract
The oral administration of clonidine has been found to be effective for assessment of Human Growth Hormone (hGH) secretion, by specific activation of central postsynaptic α-2 receptors. The aim of this work was to compare GH response to clonidine (0.100 mg/m2 pre-pubertal or 0.150 mg/m2 pubertal children), with GH response to Pyridostigmine Bromide administration (70 mg/m per os), colinesteras inhibitor in normal and short stature children. We have evaluated 32 children, 13 low normal stature children (standard deviation for height > -2.0) and 19 short stature children (standard deviation for height <-2.0). In provocative tests, growth hormone deficiency was defined as a level of GH lower than 7.0 ng/ml. Blood was collected initially after 30 min of rest and then at 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 160 and 180 min. after oral drug administration. The group of short stature children was subdivided in 2 sub-groups: non-GH deficient (non-DGH)(n=17), and GH, deficient (DGH)(n=2), according to their clonidine responses. Both clonidine (CLO) and pyridostigmine (PY) stimulated hGH release (non statistical difference; p > 0.05), as shown if table 1:
No false positives were observed in the short stature children group. We conclude that pyridostigmine is a useful drug in the diagnosis of growth hormone defficiency in short stature children.
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Marum, R., O'Abromzo, F., Villares, S. et al. COMPARISON OF THE EFFECT OF CLONIDINE AND PYRIDOSTIGMINE AS PROVOCATIVE TESTS GROWTH HORMONE SECRETION. Pediatr Res 28, 419 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199010000-00026
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-199010000-00026