Growth hormone response to D-amphetamine in normal controls and in depressive patients.

This study introduces amphetamine as a stimulus for growth hormone release in man. d-amphetamine sulfate (0.1 mg/kg body weight) was slowly administered intravenously to 21 normals, nine endogenous depressives and seven neurotic depressives. The human growth hormone (HGH) response was measured. Endogenous depressives show a significantly lower (P = 0.01) response to d-amphetamine sulfate than normal controls. By contrast, neurotic depressives show a significantly higher HGH response (P < 0.05) than normals. Considering the pharmacological properties of amphetamine, our findings are compatible with the hypothesis that a disturbance of brain aminergic systems represents one biological correlate of depressive illness.