Abnormal growth hormone and cortisol, but not thyroid-stimulating hormone, responses to an intravenous glucose tolerance test in normal-weight, bulimic women

Abnormal growth hormone (GH) and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)/cortisol secretory patterns in response to a glucose load have been observed in underweight anorectic women. The present study was performed in an attempt to establish whether changes in the hypothalamic/pituitary sensitivity to hyperglycemia occur in bulimia in the absence of weight disturbance. Therefore, serum GH, plasma cortisol, and plasma insulin concentrations were measured in eight women with normal weight bulimia and in eight normal women during an intravenous glucose (0.33 g/kg as an bolus) tolerance test (IGTT). In addition, since abnormal pituitary hormone responses to a glucose load might reflect alterations in somatostatin (SRIH) release, TSH secretion also was measured, in view of its sensitivity to SRIH inhibition.

Both GH and cortisol levels progressively and significantly declined during IGTT in the normal subjects. In the bulimic women, cortisol levels remained unchanged, whereas GH concentrations rose significantly after glucose injection. Plasma cortisol and serum GH levels were significantly higher in the bulimic than in the control subjects. No significant differences between groups were observed in hyperglycemia-induced insulin increments or in TSH decrements.

These data indicate that an altered sensitivity to hyperglycemia affects the hypothalamic/pituitary centers controlling the secretion of the counterregulatory hormones GH and ACTH/cortisol in bulimia nervosa. The lack of a simultaneous change in the TSH secretory pattern argues against a possible involvement of SRIH in the pathophysiology of this disorder.