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EFFECT OF DOPAMINE INFUSION ON SERUM PROLACTIN CONCENTRATION IN NORMAL AND HYPERPROLACTINAEMIC SUBJECTS
Author(s) -
RESCHINI E.,
FERRARI C.,
PERACCHI M.,
FADINI R.,
MESCHIA M.,
CROSIGNANI P. G.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
clinical endocrinology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 147
eISSN - 1365-2265
pISSN - 0300-0664
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2265.1980.tb03419.x
Subject(s) - hyperprolactinaemia , prolactin , endocrinology , medicine , dopamine , prolactinoma , basal (medicine) , bromocriptine , dopamine receptor , prolactin cell , pituitary gland , hormone , insulin
SUMMARY The serum prolactin response to intravenous dopamine infusion (5μg.kg −1 min −1 ) was measured in twenty‐one healthy subjects, in seven hyperprolactinaemic patients without evidence of a pituitary tumour, and in twenty‐one patients with prolactinomas. Mean serum prolactin values were significantly suppressed in all three groups, without any significant difference between the degree of suppression. A decrease of serum prolactin to below 50% of basal values occurred in fifteen healthy subjects, in four patients without evidence of pituitary tumour, and in fourteen patients with prolactinomas. These findings demonstrate that most human prolactin‐secreting pituitary adenomas are normally suppressible by exogenously administered dopamine and that dopamine infusion is not able to distinguish between tumorous and non‐tumorous hyper‐prolactinaemia. Since intravenously infused dopamine is believed to inhibit prolactin secretion by acting at pituitary level, it is suggested that a normal functioning of pituitary dopamine receptors is maintained in most human prolactinomas.