Multipathway modulation of exercise and glucose stress effects upon GH secretion in healthy men

Objective Exercise evokes pulsatile GH release followed by autonegative feedback, whereas glucose suppresses GH release followed by rebound-like GH release (feedforward escape). Here we test the hypothesis that age, sex steroids, insulin, body composition and physical power jointly determine these dynamic GH responses. Methods This was a prospectively randomized glucose-blinded study conducted in the Mayo Center for Advancing Translational Sciences in healthy men ages 19-77 years (N = 23). Three conditions, fasting/rest/saline, fasting/exercise/saline and fasting/rest/iv glucose infusions, were used to drive GH dynamics during 10-min blood sampling for 6 h. Linear correlation analysis was applied to relate peak/nadir GH dynamics to age, sex steroids, insulin, CT-estimated abdominal fat and physical power (work per unit time). Results Compared with the fasting/rest/saline (control) day, fasting/exercise/saline infusion evoked peak GH within 1 h, followed by negative feedback 3-5 h later. The dynamic GH excursion was strongly (R² = 0.634) influenced by (i) insulin negatively (P = 0.011), (ii) power positively (P = 0.0008), and (iii) E₂ positively (P = 0.001). Dynamic glucose-modulated GH release was determined by insulin negatively (P = 0.0039) and power positively (P = 0.0034) (R² = 0.454). Under rest/saline, power (P = 0.031) and total abdominal fat (P = 0.012) (R² = 0.267) were the dominant correlates of GH excursions. Conclusion In healthy men, dynamic GH perturbations induced by exercise and glucose are strongly related to physical power, insulin, estradiol, and body composition, thus suggesting a network of regulatory pathways.