Sleep and growth hormone.

Growth hormone-releasing hormone and interleukin-1 in sleep regulation.

Growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) and interleukin-1 (IL-1) are putative endogenous sleep-promoting substances. Evidence is reviewed showing that, 1) GHRH and IL-1 promote non-rapid eye movement sleep (NREMS); 2) if their production is enhanced, sleep is enhanced; and 3) if they are inhibited using either specific antibodies or peptide antagonists, sleep is reduced. Both are in the brain a...

Sleep deprivation increases rat hypothalamic growth hormone-releasing hormone mRNA.

Much evidence indicates that growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) is involved in sleep regulation. We hypothesized that GHRH mRNA would increase and somatostatin (SRIH) mRNA would decrease during sleep deprivation. With the use of RT-PCR and truncated internal standards, rat hypothalamic GHRH mRNA and SRIH mRNA levels were evaluated after sleep deprivation. After 8 or 12 h of sleep deprivati...

Sleep in mice with nonfunctional growth hormone-releasing hormone receptors.

The role of the somatotropic axis in sleep regulation was studied by using the lit/lit mouse with nonfunctional growth hormone (GH)-releasing hormone (GHRH) receptors (GHRH-Rs) and control heterozygous C57BL/6J mice, which have a normal phenotype. During the light period, the lit/lit mice displayed significantly less spontaneous rapid eye movement sleep (REMS) and non-REMS (NREMS) than the cont...

Growth hormone-releasing hormone and corticotropin-releasing hormone enhance non-rapid-eye-movement sleep after sleep deprivation.

The neuropeptides growth hormone (GH)-releasing hormone (GHRH) and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) regulate sleep and nocturnal hormone secretion in a reciprocal fashion, at least in males. GHRH promotes sleep and GH and inhibits hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) hormones. CRH exerts opposite effects. In women, a sexual dimorphism was found because GHRH impairs sleep and stimulat...

Growth hormone release during sleep in growth retarded children.