Paradoxical elevation of growth hormone by intraventricular somatostatin: possible ultrashort-loop feedback.

Somatostatin, the growth hormone-inhibiting factor, when microinjected into the third ventricle of the rat brain, paradoxically induced the release of growth hormone. A pituitary site of action having been ruled out, this result supports the concept that exogenous somatostatin within the hypothalamus acts either to suppress the release of somatostatin from somatostatin-containing neurons, possibly via an ultrashort-loop feedback mechanism, or to augment release of hypothalamic growth hormone-releasing factor, thereby inducing a release of growth hormone. Injection of somatostatin into the third ventricle also decreased plasma concentrations of luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, and thyroid-stimulating hormone, probably by inhibiting the release of luteinizing hormone-releasing factor and thyrotropin-releasing factor.