Acute intravenous acyl ghrelin infusion induces thirst but does not affect sodium excretion: two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover studies in hypopituitary patients

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Ghrelin, published as a randomized controlled trial.

Acyl ghrelin, which is the endogenous ligand for the growth hormone secretagogue receptor, potently stimulates pituitary growth hormone release, and to some degree adrenocorticotropic hormone and prolactin.

The objective of this clinical trial was to investigate the direct effects of acyl ghrelin on thirst sensation and sodium excretion in hypopituitary patients.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as middle-aged adults, men only.

Hypopituitary patients on stable replacement with hydrocortisone and growth hormone were investigated in two double-blind and placebo-controlled crossover studies.

How the Study Was Run

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

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Ghrelin group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Neither the participants nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Ghrelin, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Ghrelin could be set against what happens without it.

In the crossover set-up each of the participants took both Ghrelin and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

Thirst sensation was measured on a Visual Analog Scale (VAS).

In the second study plasma osmolality, vasopressin, copeptin, water intake, diuresis and urinary excretion of sodium and creatinine were measured.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Arginine Vasopressin, Creatinine, Drinking, Ghrelin, Glycopeptides, Growth Hormone and Hydrocortisone.

What This Means in Plain Language

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

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 3 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2019 (European journal of endocrinology), a journal based in England.

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