The adrenergic system is involved in the neural control of GH secretion with both stimulatory and inhibitory influences mainly mediated via GHRH and/or somatostatin modulation. To throw further light on adrenergic neuroregulation of somatotrophic function in man, the effect of various catecholamine agonists and antagonists on basal or GHRH-stimulated GH secretion was studied. Twenty-one adult males aged 20-30 years underwent the following studies: 1. clonidine (CLON), alpha 2-agonist, (15 micrograms/min infused i.v. from 0 to +10 min) alone and preceded by yohimbine (YOH), alpha 2-antagonist, (30 mg orally at -50 min); 2. GHRH (GHRH 44, 1 microgram/kg i.v. bolus at 0 min) alone and preceded by YOH; 3. CLON alone and combined with methoxamine (METHOX), alpha 1-agonist, (1 mg/min infused i.v. from -10 to +10 min); 4. GHRH alone and combined with i.v. infusion of phentolamine (PHEN), alpha 1/alpha 2-antagonist, (0.5 mg/min from -60 to +30 min); 5. GHRH alone and combined with i.v. infusion of salbutamol (SAL), beta 2-agonist, (10 micrograms/min from -5 to +15 min). The GH response to CLON was inhibited by YOH (area under the response curve, mean +/- S.E.: 672.6 +/- 143.0 vs. 219.6 +/- 16.7 micrograms/l/h, P less than 0.05) but was not modified by METHOX (278.4 +/- 94.1 vs. 216.7 +/- 115.5 micrograms/l/h). On the other hand, YOH was unable to affect the GH response to GHRH (339.3 +/- 19.1 vs. 518 +/- 172.8 micrograms/l/h).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)