Effect of aminophylline on growth hormone secretion in man

The effects of intravenously administered aminophylline of growth hormone (GH) secretion have been studied in sixteen normal subjects and four acromegalic patients. Intravenous infusion of theophylline ethylenediamine 480 mg over a 30 min period did not alter the blood glucose and serum GH levels in six normal subjects but raised the plasma FFA by 88%. By contrast, in four acromegalic patients theophylline administration resulted in a fall of the serum GH levels by 17.6-51.7%, mean 36.5%. In ten normal subjects the infusion of the drug clearly blunted the GH response to insulin hypoglycaemia without modifying the decrease in blood glucose and plasma FFA induced by insulin: mean peak GH values decreased from 32.7±3.39 to 21.4±4.10 ng/ml (P