RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Absence of sleep‐related growth hormone elevations in myotonic dystrophy
JF Neurology
JO Neurology
FD Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
SP 165
OP 165
DO 10.1212/WNL.27.2.165
VO 27
IS 2
A1 ANTONIO CULEBRAS
A1 STEPHEN PODOLSKY
A1 NORMAN A. LEOPOLD
YR 1977
UL http://n.neurology.org/content/27/2/165.abstract
AB There is evidence that in myotonic dystrophy, the endocrine and central nervous systems are affected. To study a possible relationship between both defects, we investigated nocturnal sleep patterns and associated growth hormone secretion in two men and three women with myotonic dystrophy. In three patients who were clinically the most severely affected by myotonic dystrophy, plasma growth hormone elevations related to the slow-wave phase of sleep were absent. The two least severely affected patients had plasma growth hormone increases of low magnitude and brief duration (from 0.4 ng per milliliter to 13.0 ng per milliliter). These data suggest a failure of integration at a subcortical level of the slow-wave phase of sleep with the hypothalamic-pituitary mechanisms of growth hormone secretion. Thalamic neuronal lesions occurring in myotonic dystrophy could be responsible for such failure.