Arginine-initiated release of human growth hormone. Factors modifying the response in normal man
One article on PainSci cites Merimee 1969: Vitamins, Minerals & Supplements for Pain & Healing
PainSci notes on Merimee 1969:
Some ancient, basic physiology science demonstrating that arginine supplementation may stimulated production of growth hormone — which is still used by as a rationale for arginine supplementation for bodybuilders to this day.
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
To improve the usefulness of testing pituitary function by the response of human growth hormone (HGH) to I.V. arginine loads, arginine infusions were given under a variety of conditions to healthy subjects aged 17 to 35. The minimum effective arginine load causing release of HGH was 1/6 gm per pound of body weight in men and 1/12 gm per pound of body weight in women. At each of three dosage schedules used, women responded with greater increases in plasma HGH than men. Treatment of men with diethylstilbestrol augmented their HGH response to arginine, whereas methyltestosterone pretreatment did not decrease the response in women. The HGH response to arginine was not abolished by acute hyperglycemia but was attenuated or delayed by a previous stimulus for HGH release.
In the use of this test of pituitary function, it is necessary to use a proper dose of arginine, to avoid other stimuli of HGH release, and to pretreat men with estrogens.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Inciting events associated with lumbar disc herniation. Suri 2010 Spine J.
- Prediction of an extruded fragment in lumbar disc patients from clinical presentations. Pople 1994 Spine (Phila Pa 1976).
- Characteristics of patients with low back and leg pain seeking treatment in primary care: baseline results from the ATLAS cohort study. Konstantinou 2015 BMC Musculoskelet Disord.
- Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of universal school-based mindfulness training compared with normal school provision in reducing risk of mental health problems and promoting well-being in adolescence: the MYRIAD cluster randomised controlled trial. Kuyken 2022 Evid Based Ment Health.
- No long-term effects after a three-week open-label placebo treatment for chronic low back pain: a three-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial. Kleine-Borgmann 2022 Pain.