Acetate suppresses growth hormone secretion in uremic patients: hemodialysis and acetate infusion experiments.

Growth hormone secretion in uremic patients is completely suppressed immediately after initiation of and during hemodialysis using acetate dialysate. The present study demonstrates that growth hormone secretion stimulated by arginine is also inhibited by hemodialysis. Acetate infusion experiments proved that the high blood acetate level obtained during dialysis is at least partly responsible for this growth hormone suppression by unknown mechanisms.