A simplified assessment of response to parathyroid hormone in hypoparathyroid patients.

Hightly purified bovine parathyroid hormone (B.P.T.H) was given by injection and/or infusion to six normal volunteers and to patients with surgical hypoparathyroidism (five cases), idiopathic hyparathyroidism (five cases), or poeudo-hypoparathyroidism (six cases). Infusion and injection of B.P.T.H. produced very similar patterns of response in plasma adenosine 3' 5' cyclic monophosphate (cyclic A.M.P.) In all six normal volunteers and in the patients with surgical (five cases) or idiopathic (four cases) hypoparathyroidism who had injections of B.P.T.H., plasma-cA.M.P. had risen significantly within 5 min and the peak response was genereally observed 10 min after injection of hormone. In the five pseudohypoparathyroid patients who received injections of B.P.T.H., plasma-c?A.M.P. concentration increased only slightly or not at all after the hormone was administered. Unlike the traditional test for the investigation of hypocalcaemia, the test described here does not require collections of urine samples.