Endocrine profiles in pediatric andrology. I. Thyroid-stimulating hormone response to thyrotropin-releasing hormone in normal and protein-calorie malnourished infants.

Thryotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) was intravenously administered to eight normal control infants and ten infants with kwashiorkor. Stimulation caused by TRH was measured at various time intervals. The basal total protein mean value +/- SE was 6.9 +/- 0.3 and 4.0 +/- 0.3 g/dl for the control and kwashiorkor groups, respectively. Serum total thyroxine was 7.7 +/- 0.6 and 4.8 +/- 0.8 micrograms/dl for the control and kwashiorkor groups, respectively. Serum levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) were 3.2, 13.5, 9.0, 7.4, and 8.0 microU/ml for the controls before stimulation and 20, 60, 90, and 120 min after stimulation, respectively. The corresponding values for the infants with kwashiorkor were 5.7, 13.9, 14.9, 15.2, and 15.3 microU/ml, respectively. The delayed TSH response to TRH stimulation in the infants with kwashiorkor was attributed to disturbance in the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis.