PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS ON THE EFFECT OF SYNTHETIC THYROTROPIN RELEASING FACTOR ON PLASMA THYROTROPIN LEVELS IN MAN¹

Abstract

Intravenous administration of synthetic TRF in doses of 250–750 μg stimulates a rise in plasma HTSH levels in normal individuals. No rise in plasma HTSH occurs following 500–750 μg of TRF in subjects on 0.3 mg of Lthyroxine or in patients with panhypopituitarism. One of two euthyroid patients with a sella tumor appeared to respond suboptimally to TRF. It is condluded that synthetic TRF is a convenient means for testing the integrity of the human pituitary for TSH secretion.