GROWTH-HORMONE NEUROREGULATION IN DIABETES-MELLITUS

GH secretion is markedly altered in diabetic vats and humans. Diabetes in the rat, whether occurring spontaneously or after streptozotocin a dministration, results in depressed GH secretion. This defect is likel y caused by an increase in hypothalamic somatostatin tone and decrease d pituitary GH. The effects of diabetes in humans depend upon the etio logy of the disease. In type-1 diabetes, GH secretion is increased and in type 2 it is decreased. Again these changes are hypothesized to be due to opposite alterations in hypothalamic somatostatin. Current evi dence suggests that GH hypersecretion in human type-1 diabetes may be relevant to important metabolic and angiopathic complications of the d isease.