Abstract
Intravenous glucose tests (0.5 g/kg body weight) were performed in 13 newborn infants during their first 3 days of life. The variations in blood glucose, insulin and GH values were studied. In all patients there was a rise in plasma insulin. The correlation between initial insulin rise and glucose assimilation constant was 0.503 which is almost significant. The glucose load provoked a very variable response in plasma GH concentration, some infants showed a rise, others a fall. If the newborns were grouped according to this reaction it appeared that the GH response could be explained using Wilder's law of initial value. This hypothesis, however, did not stand up to a thorough statistical analysis including a discussion of a less well-known statistical error.
In contrast to insulin secretion, GH apparently plays no major role in the short term regulation of the blood sugar in the newborn.
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Nars, P.W., Helfenstein, U., Olafsson, A. et al. The paradoxical growth hormone reaction after intravenous glucose in the newborn. Z. Kinder-Heilk. 117, 63–72 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00439024
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00439024