The effect of chronic hexarelin administration on the pituitary-adrenal axis and prolactin

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Hexarelin, published as a clinical trial.

With the development of growth hormone (GH) releasing agents and their use in human subjects, it is clear that these agents are not specific for GH release.

The potential adverse effects of repeated episodes of transient hyperprolactinaemia and hypercortisolaemia during long-term therapy with growth hormone releasing peptides (GHRPs) and similar agents have raised concern.

The researchers have therefore assessed the impact of chronic hexarelin administration on the pituitary-adrenal axis and serum prolactin levels.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as older adults and people over 80, both men and women.

How the Study Was Run

A time span of 16 weeks appears in the methods.

The ACTH, cortisol and PRL responses to the morning subcutaneous injection of hexarelin were assessed.

Hexarelin was administered at time 0 and blood samples were taken at -10, 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 90, 120, 170 and 180 min.

The ACTH and PRL responses were assessed at baseline and after 16 weeks of therapy.

The cortisol response was assessed at baseline, 16 weeks and also 4 weeks after completion of hexarelin therapy.

Basal levels of cortisol binding globulin (CBG), 24-h urinary free cortisol (UFC) estimations, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and total thyroxine (TT4) were performed at baseline, weeks 16 and 20.

What Was Measured

The subject headings attached to it are Administration, Cutaneous, Biomarkers, Oligopeptides, Pituitary-Adrenal System and Prolactin.

What This Means in Plain Language

This is a clinical trial of Hexarelin over 16 weeks.

Results are reported in around 10 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 1999 (Clinical endocrinology), a journal based in England.

More context: the Hexarelin compound page, all human trials.