The plasma growth hormone (hGH) responses to an intravenous challenge of 400 micrograms of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) were evaluated in 14 normal controls and in 29 chronic alcoholic men. The normal controls had either a minimal or no hGH response to TRH, having basal hGH levels of 0.9 +/- 0.2 ng per ml and peak hGH levels of 2.0 +/- 0.5 ng per ml. In contrast, the chronic alcoholic men had a basal hGH level of 2.8 +/- 0.4 ng per ml, 3 times the basal level of the normal controls (P less than 0.01). The peak hGH response of the alcoholic men was 7.4 +/- 1.5 ng per ml (P less than 0.01). The 29 alcoholic men could be divided into two groups based upon the presence or absence of cirrhosis as determined by liver biopsy. The 16 alcoholic men with cirrhosis had greater basal hGH levels (3.5 +/- 0.6 ng per ml) and peak hGH levels (9.5 +/- 2.3 ng per ml) than did the 13 alcoholic men without cirrhosis (basal hGH 2.1 +/- 0.6 ng per ml, peak hGH 4.9 +/- 1.5 ng/ml). Plasma estradiol levels were similar in the normal controls and in the alcoholic men. In contrast, plasma estrone was greater in the alcoholic men (32.2 +/- 3.5 pg per ml) than in the normal controls (18.9 +/- 1.8 pg per ml) (P less than 0.05). However, when the plasma estrone levels of alcoholic men with cirrhosis were compared to those of the alcoholic men without cirrhosis no difference existed. Thus it is difficult to ascribe the increased hGH responses of the cirrhotic alcoholic men when compared to those of the noncirrhotic alcoholic men as being a result of increased basal estrogen levels.