Effect of the opioid blockade on the feeding-induced growth hormone response to growth hormone-releasing hormone in women with polycystic ovary syndrome

Objective: To investigate the effect of naloxone, an opioid receptor antagonist, on the release of growth hormone (GH) induced by the growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) in normal-weight and obese women with PCOS in relation to feeding. Design: Prospective clinical study. Setting: Academic research center. Patient(s): Seventeen women with PCOS (10 who were normal weight and 7 who were obese) and 14 control women (7 who were normal weight and 7 who were obese). Intervention(s): A GHRH test (50 μg i.v.) and, on a different day, a GHRH test during a naloxone infusion (1.6 mg/h) during fasting. The same tests were repeated after a standard meal. Main Outcome Measure(s): GH response to GHRH (expressed as the area under the curve [AUC]) in different experimental conditions. Result(s): All normal-weight women showed a significantly higher AUC-GH compared with obese women in the fasting state. Normal-weight controls had a decrease in GH response to GHRH after feeding, and naloxone did not reverse the decrease. In obese controls, feeding increased the GH response but naloxone induced a decrease in the AUC. In fasting, normal-weight women with PCOS, naloxone significantly decreased the AUC-GH; in these patients, food intake induced an inhibition of GH response to GHRH, reversed by naloxone infusion. In obese PCOS patients, GH levels did not increase significantly after GHRH stimulation, either in the fasting state or after a meal, and naloxone did not affect these responses. Conclusion(s): Factors other than obesity and insulin may be involved in disruption of GH secretion in women with PCOS. © 2002 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.