Plasma growth hormone after arginine infusion. Clinical experiences.

INFUSION of arginine monochloride is followed by a rise in the plasma concentration of human growth hormone in normal subjects.1 , 2 The infusion is accompanied by modest changes in plasma glucose concentration. The subjects exhibit no discomfort, and in our experience, the procedure has been entirely without untoward effects. It occurred to us at the time of our initial report of arginine-initiated release of human growth hormone that this observation had potential clinical application.1 After the development of a sensitive immunoassay for measurement of this hormone in plasma by Berson and his colleagues3 the definitive demonstration of its deficiency became possible. . . .