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A Possible Direct Precursor of Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone, pGlu-His-Pro-Gly, Stimulates Prolactin Secretion in Anorexia Nervosa^*

MASATOMO MORI, MASAMI MURAKAMI, TETSUROU SATOH, KAZUYA MIYASHITA, TOKUJI IRIUCHIJIMA, MASANOBU YAMADA, TOSHIHIKO INUKAI and ISAO KOBAYASHI

First Department of Internal Medicine, Gunma University School of Medicine Maebashi 371, Japan

TRH is produced from its possible direct precursor, pGlu-His-Pro-Gly (TRH-Gly), by -amidating enzyme. The quantitative response of TRH-Gly-stimulated PRL, TSH, and GH was evaluated in nine patients with anorexia nervosa, six age-matched normal women, eight patients with uremia, five patients with acromegaly, and two patients with prolactinoma. Intravenous injection (500 µg) of TRH-Gly caused a 2.6-fold increase in PRL secretion in patients with anorexia nervosa (basal level, 10.0 ± 1.4 vs. 25.9 ± 2.5 µg/h 15 min after injection; P < 0.01). In contrast, no significant change was observed in TRH-Gly-stimulated PRL secretion in normal women (basal level, 13.5 ± 2.3 vs. 15.3 ± 2.5 µg/L 15 min after injection; P > 0.05). TRH-Gly did not alter PRL levels in patients with uremia, acromegaly, or prolactinoma. Secretion of TSH, but not GH, was slightly increased by TRH-Gly injection in patients with anorexia nervosa (basal level, 1.41 ± 0.13 vs. 2.86 ± 0.22 min/L 30 min after injection; P < 0.01), whereas no significant secretory response was observed in normal women. These data provide evidence that PRL secretion in anorectic patients is quantitatively different from that in normal persons.

^* Part of the study was presented in abstract form at the 71st Annual Meeting of The Endocrine Society, Seattle, WA, 1989 (Abstract 349).

To whom all correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed.

Received April 20, 1989.

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