INCREASED THYROTROPHIN SECRETION INDUCED BY SULPIRIDE IN MAN

100 mg i.m. sulpiride (a dopamine-receptor-blocking drug) led to a significant rise in plasma TSH in normal womem, in female patients with galactorrhoea, and, to a much more marked degree, in male and female patients with primary hypothyroidism. In the hypothyroid patients, there was a significant positive correlation between basal TSH and its maximum increment after sulpiride. The drug proved to be an even more potent stimulator of PRL, at least in subjects with normal blood PRL. Normal males, on the other hand, displayed no significant changes in TSH after sulpiride. Continuous administration (150 mg/day per os for 15 days) also resulted in enhancement of TSH in normal women. These results suggest that TSH release is controlled by a dopaminergic mechanism in man. The more accentuated TSH response in hypothyroid patients may perhaps be attributable to the absence of negative-feedback on the part of thyroid hormones.