Sex steroids, GHRH, somatostatin, IGF-I, and IGFBP-1 modulate ghrelin's dose-dependent drive of pulsatile GH secretion in healthy older men

Plain-language guide to PMID 22990092 (2012): double-blind randomized controlled trial study of Ghrelin and Somatostatin.

Key Facts

PMID: 22990092
Journal: The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism
Year: 2012
Study type: Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Veldhuis JD et al. (4 authors)
DOI: 10.1210/jc.2012-2567

What This Study Did, in Plain Language

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at Ghrelin and Somatostatin.

The aim of the study was to test the multipathway hypothesis that testosterone (T) and estradiol, GHRH, and somatostatin (SS) jointly modulate ghrelin's action.

Why It Was Studied

Ghrelin is a potent endogenous stimulator of GH secretion.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were middle-aged adults and older adults, men only.

Healthy older men (n = 21) participated in a double-blind, prospectively randomized, placebo (Pl)-controlled study in a Clinical Translational Research Center.

To create a range of sex-steroid milieus, men received leuprolide + Pl (n = 10) or leuprolide + T addback (n = 11).

How the Study Was Run

The design is described as randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Ghrelin and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Blinding on both sides kept the participants and researchers unaware of who received Ghrelin.

Some participants received a placebo instead of Ghrelin, giving a reference point.

Sixteen to 21 d later, subjects received three separate randomly ordered overnight constant i.v. infusions of saline, GHRH, and SS.

Linear associations were assessed by stepwise regression.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Age Factors, Drug Interactions, Ghrelin, Gonadal Steroid Hormones, Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone, Health and Human Growth Hormone.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Ghrelin and Somatostatin.

Results are reported in around 5 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2012 (The Journal of clinical endocrinology and metabolism), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Ghrelin compound page and the Somatostatin compound page, all human trials.

Our Notes on the Compounds

Ghrelin: A 28-amino-acid stomach hormone that signals hunger and triggers growth hormone release; studied in human trials as an infusion.

Somatostatin: A 14-amino-acid hormone that switches off the release of several other hormones, including growth hormone and insulin.

GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone): The 44-amino-acid hypothalamic hormone that tells the pituitary to release growth hormone; sermorelin and tesamorelin are analogs.

Source: PubMed record. This explanation is written by PeptideWhiz from the public record. For research and education only. Not medical advice; no dosing information is given.