Growth hormone-releasing hormone effects on brain γ-aminobutyric acid levels in mild cognitive impairment and healthy aging

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone), published as a randomized controlled trial.

To examine the neurochemical effects of GHRH in a subset of participants from the parent trial.

Why It Was Studied

The role of neurotransmitter changes, measured by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, may inform the mechanisms for this response.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 20, participants taking part.

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

Thirty adults (17 with mild cognitive impairment [MCI]), ranging in age from 55 to 87 years, were enrolled and successfully completed the study.

At baseline and weeks 10 and 20, participants underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy protocols and cognitive testing and provided blood samples after fasting.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone) group and the comparison group should start out alike.

As a double-blind GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone) study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone) could be set against what happens without it.

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled substudy of a larger trial.

Clinical research unit at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Participants also underwent glucose tolerance tests before and after intervention.

What Was Measured

The role of neurotransmitter changes, measured by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, may inform the mechanisms for this response.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Aging, Brain Chemistry, Cognitive Dysfunction, Frontal Lobe, Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone, Gyrus Cinguli and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone) in 20, participants.

With fewer than 40 people, it is a small study, so it is better read as an early signal for further research than as a settled answer.

Results are reported in around 12 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2013 (JAMA neurology), a journal based in United States.

More context: the GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone) compound page, all human trials.