PROFILES OF SPONTANEOUS 24-HOUR AND STIMULATED GROWTH-HORMONE SECRETION IN MALE-PATIENTS WITH ENDOGENOUS-DEPRESSION

Abnormalities of both the spontaneous and the stimulated release of gr owth hormone (GH) have been described in patients with endogenous depr ession. In this study, six unmedicated male patients with endogenous d epression (ICD 296.1/3) were compared with six age-matched healthy men . Levels of GH were determined at 15-minute intervals over 26 hours. A combined releasing hormone test was performed during the last 2 hours of blood sampling. The 24-hour profile of GH secretion was significan tly lower in the depressed patients than in the healthy control subjec ts due to a significantly diminished sleep-related GH secretion. GH st imulation following releasing hormones was lower in the depressed pati ents than in healthy subjects. Hypersecretion of GH before the stimula tion test might therefore not explain the blunted GH response to stimu lation that has been observed in depressive patients.