Action of somatostatin, levodopa and pyridoxine on growth hormone (GH) secretion in newborn infants.

Abstract

We studied the effect of i.v. levodopa, pyridoxine and synthetic somatostatin in 28 normal babies during the first hours of life. Somatostatin caused a decrease in GH levels in all infants; in addition, both levodopa and pyridoxine infection paradoxically suppressed GH secretion in all subjects. It is concluded that in the first hours of life GH secretion can be suppressed by synthetic somatostatin as well as by levodopa and pyridoxine administration.