Blunted prolactin response to metoclopramide in insulin-dependent diabetic patients with secondary amenorrhoea.

In order to investigate the dopaminergic activity in diabetic women with secondary amenorrhoea we studied the response of prolactin to a dopamine receptor antagonist metoclopramide (MTC - 10 mg i.v.) in three groups of women: 5 insulin-dependent diabetic women with secondary amenorrhoea, 5 insulin-dependent diabetics with normal menstrual cycles and 6 non-diabetic women with regular cycles. Patients with diabetes and secondary amenorrhoea had significantly lower basal LH levels (P less than 0.001) and FSH levels (P less than 0.005) than normally cycling diabetic women. Basal and metoclopramide stimulated prolactin levels were lower in diabetic women with secondary amenorrhoea compared to normally cycling diabetics and control subjects. Evaluation of C-peptide levels in peripheral blood revealed that all amenorrheic diabetics had no endogenous beta cell function while diabetic women with normal cycles (except 1 patient) had preserved residual pancreatic beta cell secretion.