Summary
The oral administration of melatonin to men has been reported to cause a rapid and significant elevation of serum GH, and to inhibit GH release after stimulation by L-Dopa. We studied the effect of melatonin i.v. on the basal and L-Dopa stimulated GH secretion in four young men. Each subject's control response to L-Dopa was first studied by an oral administration to 500 mg of L-Dopa under a placebo infusion and was followed 2 weeks later by a similar study under melatonin infusion, 2.1 mg/min (total dose of 500 mg). The infusion of melatonin was given for a 4-hour period, 2 hours before and 2 hours after the L-Dopa stimulation. Blood samples for GH were obtained at 30-min intervals. Basal values of serum GH did not rise under the melatonin infusion and peak GH values following L-Dopa stimulation during the control infusion and the melatonin infusion also did not differ (2± 0.5 to 22 ± 6 and 2 ± 0.8 to 25 ± 4 ng/ml respectively). Our data suggest that under an acute constant infusion melatonin does not stimulate GH secretion, nor does it interfere with the L-Dopa stimulated GH response in men.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Smythe, G. A., Lazarus, L.: Growth hormone responses to melatonin in man. Science184, 1373–1374 (1974).
Nordlund, J. J., Lerner, A. B.: The effects of oral melatonin on skin color and on the release of pituitary hormones. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab.45, 768–774 (1977).
Koulu, M., Lammintausta, R.: Effect of melatonin on L-tryptophan apomorphine stimulated growth hormone secretion in man. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab.49, 70–72 (1979).
Kopin, I. J., Pare, C. M. B., Axelrod, J., Weissbach, H.: The fate of melatonin in animals. J. Biol. Chem.236, 3072–3075 (1961).
Rollag, M. D., Morgan, R. J., Niswender, G. D.: Route of melatonin secretion in sheep. Endocrinology102, 1 (1978).
Weinberg, U., D'Eletto, R., Weitzman, E. D., Erlich, S., Hollander, C.: Circulating melatonin in man; episodic secretion throughout the lightdark cycle. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab.48, 114–118 (1979).
Weinberg, U., Weitzman, E. D., Fukushima, D. K., Cancel, G. F., Rosenfeld, R. S.: Melatonin does not suppress the pituitary luteinizing hormone response to LHRH in men. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab.51, 161 (1980).
Lau, K. S., Gottlieb, C. W., Herberg, V.: Preliminary report on coated charcoal immunoassay of human chorionic “growth hormone-prolactin” and growth hormone. Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med.123, 126–131 (1966).
Anton-Tay, F., Diaz, J. L., Fernandez-Guardiola, A.: On the effect of melatonin upon human brain; its possible therapeutic implication. Life Sci.10, 841–850 (1971).
Muller, E. E.: Nervous control of growth hormone secretion. Neuroendocrinology11, 338–369 (1973).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Weinberg, U., Weitzman, E.D., Horowitz, Z.D. et al. Lack of an effect of melatonin on the basal and L-Dopa stimulated growth hormone secretion in men. J. Neural Transmission 52, 117–121 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01253103
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01253103