Growth hormone's role in diabetic microangiopathy.

The state of the blood vessels is normal at the clinical onset of juvenile diabetes. Vascular changes develop slowly and progressively. According to the growth hormone hypothesis, elevated serum growth hormone is one casual factor in the development of diabetic angiopathy. The hypothesis proposes an effect of growth hormone not on blood glucose but directly on blood vessels. This hypothesis is based on serum growth hormone studies and on a controlled clinical trial of the effect of hypophysectomy on small blood vessels. An animal model of large-vessel disease in diabetes is briefly described. There is a large molecule in diabetic serum causing proliferation of aortic myomedial cells in culture. Growth hormone causes a similar proliferation. A short summary is given of the present situation in somatostatin research relating to diabetes mellitus.