Effect of feeding on growth hormone response to growth hormone-releasing hormone in polycystic ovarian syndrome: relation with body weight and hyperinsulinism

The plasma growth hormone (GH) response to direct stimulation with growth h ormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) before and after a standard meal was invest igated in 14 polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) subjects. Data were compare d with those obtained from 14 healthy normovulatory matched patients. All w omen underwent an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) (75 g) and basal plasm a hormone concentrations were evaluated. On a different day all subjects ha d a GHRH test (50 mug GHRH) both before and after lunch randomly. In obese PCOS subjects the GH response to GHRH was blunted after a meal, while in ob ese control patients there was an enhanced response of GH to GHRH after a m eal. Normal control subjects showed an inhibition of the GH response after feeding and lean PCOS subjects showed a trend toward an augmented GHRH rela ted secretion after a meal significantly higher than normal controls (P < 0 .05) but not significantly higher than the pre-prandial response. In conclu sion, the data indicate in PCOS a derangement of GH secretion related to fo od ingestion; in particular obese PCOS patients did not exhibit any change of GH response after a meal compared with the paradoxical response observed in obese controls. Several other factors beyond body mass index and hyperi nsulinism could be involved in these pathophysiological events.