Participants needed for UQ growth hormone study

Volunteers are urgently required for University of Queensland research into human growth hormone deficiency.

The use of human growth hormone to enhance the performance of athletes has placed it at the top of the “most wanted” list for sport drug agencies around the world.

However, far fewer headlines are given to the flip-side of the story, although it is very serious for those affected.

Associate Professor Ross Cuneo, Dr Ed Pratt and Jennifer Wallace from UQ’s School of Medicine are currently investigating growth hormone deficiency and the role of growth hormone in exercise, especially in relation to the regulation of metabolism and body temperature.

The deficiency is found in people who have a malfunctioning pituitary gland or have had a benign tumour of the pituitary gland treated by curative surgery or radiotherapy.

Those affected suffer from extreme tiredness, decreased exercise tolerance and obesity, which impact negatively on their quality of life and ability to work.

“The project urgently needs healthy volunteers with no hormone deficiency to act as age and weight control subjects,” Dr Pratt said.

Volunteers need to be healthy but not necessarily fit, between the ages of 20 and 60, and not on medication for other illnesses.

They would be required to visit the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Woolloongabba three times for a total of approximately 15 hours, as part of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funded project.

The first visit of around two hours would involve 10 minutes of cycling on an exercise bike while the subsequent visits would take five to six hours each.

One of these would involve half-an-hour of sub-maximal cycling during which sweating rates and core body temperature would be measured. Blood would also be required at each visit.

People interested in participating should contact Dr Pratt on telephone (07) 3240 5391 or email epratt@medicine.pa.uq.edu.au.

Media: For further information, contact Dr Pratt (telephone 07 3240 5391, email epratt@medicine.pa.uq.edu.au), Nicole Pelton (telephone 07 3240 7451, email npelton@medicine.pa.uq.edu.au) or Joanne van Zeeland at UQ Communications (telephone 07 3365 2619 or email communications@uq.edu.au).