@article{90fa8985764f4caf857fff4e8df332d5,
title = "Growth hormone releasing hormone improves the cognition of healthy older adults",
abstract = "Declines in the activity of the somatotrophic axis have been implicated in the age-related changes observed in a number of physiological functions, including cognition. Such age-related changes may be arrested or partially reversed by hormonal supplementation. We examined the effect of 6 months treatment with daily growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) or placebo on the cognition of a group of 89 healthy older (68.0 ± 0.7) adults. GHRH resulted in improved performance on WAIS-R performance IQ (p < 0.01), WAIS-R picture arrangement (p < 0.01), finding A's (p < 0.01), verbal sets (p < 0.01) and single-dual task (p < 0.04). GHRH-based improvements were independent of gender, estrogen status or baseline cognitive capacity. These results demonstrate that the age-related decline in the somatotrophic axis may be related to age-related decline in cognition. Further they indicate that supplementation of this neuro-hormonal axis may partially ameliorate such cognitive declines in healthy normal older adults and potentially in individuals with impaired cognitive function (i.e., mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease).",
keywords = "Aging, Cognition, Cognitive function, Elderly, GH, GHRH, IGF-I",
author = "Vitiello, {Michael V.} and Moe, {Karen E.} and Merriam, {George R.} and Giuliana Mazzoni and Buchner, {David H.} and Schwartz, {Robert S.}",
note = "Funding Information: Dr. Vitiello has served as a scientific consultant for Serono Laboratories Inc. Dr. Schwartz has served as a scientific consultant, given lectures supported by and received research support from Serono Laboratories Inc. Funding Information: The authors wish to thank Drs. Laura D. Baker, Suzanne Craft and Beth Kerr for their collaboration, Dr. Peter P. Vitaliano for his methodological advice, and Suzanne Barsness, Gwen Drolet, Monika Kletke, Erin Madar and the nursing staff of the UWMC GCRC for their expert assistance in conducting this research. This research was supported by US Public Health Service grants K02-MH01158 (MVV), MH53575 (MVV), AG10943 (RSS) and the US Department of Veteran's Affairs. A portion of this work was conducted through the General Clinical Research Center facility at the University of Washington Medical Center supported by the National Institutes of Health, Grant M01-RR-00037. GEREF {\textregistered} and placebo were provided free of cost by Serono Laboratories Inc. Contribution of the authors: Dr. Michael V. Vitiello, principal investigator, was responsible for all aspects of the current study and one of the parent studies (MH53575). Dr. Karen E. Moe, co-investigator, helped design and write one of the parent studies, helped design the cognitive test battery and participated in data analysis. Dr. George R. Merriam, co-investigator, responsible for the GH and IGF-I assays, subject safety and GHRH dosing. Dr. Giuliana Mazzoni, co-investigator, helped design the cognitive test battery. Dr. David H. Buchner, co-investigator, helped design and write the one of parent studies (AG10943). Dr. Robert S. Schwartz, co-investigator, was responsible for all aspects of one of the parent studies (AG10943).",
year = "2006",
month = feb,
doi = "10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2005.01.010",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "27",
pages = "318--323",
journal = "Neurobiology of Aging",
issn = "0197-4580",
publisher = "Elsevier Inc.",
number = "2",
}