Conditions: Obese Growth Hormone Secretion Abnormality
Keywords: Growth hormone GH Obesity Mitochondrial function reduced growth hormone secretion
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 15
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
Obesity is associated with reduced growth hormone (GH) secretion. Reduced GH secretion in obesity is associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk. However, it is not yet known how reduced GH increases cardiovascular disease risk in obesity. The investigators hypothesize that reduced GH contributes to dysfunction of the mitochondria. Therefore, the investigators hypothesize that treatment of obese subjects with reduced GH secretion with GH will improve mitochondrial function and that this improvement in mitochondrial function will contribute, in part, to the effects of GH to improve metabolic parameters in obesity. The investigators propose to study skeletal muscle mitochondria in obese subjects with reduced GH secretion using magnetic resonance spectroscopy and muscle biopsies before and after treatment with GH.

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: None

Interventions: intervention 1: Growth hormone treatment
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Growth hormone 0.4 mg once daily (titrated to IGF-1) by sub-cutaneous injection for 12 weeks.

Protocol document: