A B S T R A C T We have examined the effects of' cholinergic blockade with 0.5 mg methscopolamine bromide, intramuscularly, on sleep-related and insulininduced growth hormone (GH) secretion. 17 normal young men were studied; 8 had sleep studies, and 12 (including 3 who also had sleep studies) had insulin tolerance tests (ITT) with 0.1 U/kg of regular insulin. After an adjustment night in the sleep laboratory, saline control night and methscopolamine night studies were done in random se(luence; study procedures in-(cluded electroencephalographic, electromyographic, and electrooculographic recordings, and blood sampling every 20 min for hormone radioimmunoassays. Prolactin levels were also measured during sleep. For methscopolamine night studies, the mean overall control GH level of 2.89+0.44 ng/ml and the mean peak control GH level of' 11.09±3.11 ng/ml were dramatically reduced to 0.75±0.01 and 1.04+0.25 ng/ ml, respectively (P < 0.0001 and <0.001). Despite virtual absence of' GH secretion during the night in every study subject, no meas.ured sleep characteristic was affected by methscopolamine, including total slow-wave sleep ( methscopolamine had only a marginial effect oIn the GH response to insulin hypoglycemiiia. None of nine time points diff'ered significantly, as was also the case with peak levels, mean inerements, and areas under the curves (P > 0.2). Analysis of' variance did, however, indicate that the lower GH concentrations achieved during ITT after methscopolamine (average 31.7% below control) were significantly different than control concentrations. We conclude that the burst of' GH secretion which normally occurs after sleep onset is primed by a cholinergic mechanism which does not influence slow-wave sleep. Cholinergic mechanisms do not appear to play an important role in sleeprelated prolactin secretion. The contrast between the complete suppression of sleep-related GH release and the relatively small inhibitory effect on ITTinduced GH secretion suggests that the neurotransmitter mechanisms, and presumably the pathways, which subserve sleep-related GH secretion in man may be different from those which mediate the GH response to pharmacologic stimuli such as insulin.