Defective arginine-induced insulin secretion in children with nutritional rickets

ABSTRACT

We evaluated arginine-induced insulin and growth hormone secretion in 10 children with proved vitamin-D-deficiency rickets and compared these values with those of eight normal age-matched control children. Thirty minutes after an intravenous infection of arginine hydrochloride [10% solution, 0.5 g/kg], the mean serum insulin level was 159.3 +/- 122.7 pmol/L for the rachitic children, which was significantly lower than that for the normal children. Neither the fasting insulin level nor any others after the arginine infusion differed significantly from those the control children. There were no significant differences in the fasting or the arginine-stimulated growth hormone levels between the rachitic and control children. The concentrations of insulinlike growth factor I and II did not differ between the two groups. These data suggest that there is not a major role for circulating growth hormone [and by implication somatomedin] on bone mineralization