Effect of pyridostigmine on the growth hormone response to growth hormone-releasing hormone in lean and obese type II Diabetic patients

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone).

The aim of their study was to evaluate the effect of PD on GHRH-stimulated GH secretion in both lean and obese type II diabetic patients.

Why It Was Studied

A suppressed growth hormone (GH) response to GH-releasing hormone (GHRH) in both lean and overweight type II diabetics has been reported.

Pyridostigmine (PD), an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, elicits GH secretion when administered alone and enhances the GH response to GHRH in normal subjects.

Who Took Part

The abstract describes 16 patients taking part.

PubMed indexes the participants as middle-aged adults, both men and women.

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 GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Blinding on both sides kept the patients and researchers unaware of who received GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone).

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone) group a baseline to be compared against.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Blood Glucose, Diabetes Mellitus, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Drug Synergism, Growth Hormone, Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone and Obesity.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of GHRH (Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone) in 16 patients.

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.

The publication is from 1994 (Metabolism: clinical and experimental), a journal based in United States.

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