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Growth Hormone (GH) or Somatotropin, Also Known As Human Growth Hormone (HGH or HGH)

Growth hormone (GH) is a peptide hormone produced in the pituitary gland that stimulates growth, cell reproduction, and regeneration. It is important for human development. Recombinant human GH is used to treat children's growth disorders and adult GH deficiency. While some doctors prescribe it to increase vitality in older patients, its long-term safety and efficacy for this use has not been established. GH has been abused by athletes seeking performance enhancement, though blood tests can now detect artificial GH. Its use for this purpose is not approved. GH has also been studied for raising livestock more efficiently but these applications remain controversial.

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67 views

Growth Hormone (GH) or Somatotropin, Also Known As Human Growth Hormone (HGH or HGH)

Growth hormone (GH) is a peptide hormone produced in the pituitary gland that stimulates growth, cell reproduction, and regeneration. It is important for human development. Recombinant human GH is used to treat children's growth disorders and adult GH deficiency. While some doctors prescribe it to increase vitality in older patients, its long-term safety and efficacy for this use has not been established. GH has been abused by athletes seeking performance enhancement, though blood tests can now detect artificial GH. Its use for this purpose is not approved. GH has also been studied for raising livestock more efficiently but these applications remain controversial.

Uploaded by

Rachel Caldito
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Growth hormone (GH) or somatotropin, also known as human growth hormone (hGH or HGH)

in its human form, is a peptide hormone that stimulates growth, cell reproduction, and cell
regeneration in humans and other animals. It is thus important in human development. It is a type
of mitogen which is specific only to certain kinds of cells. Growth hormone is a 191-amino acid,
single-chain polypeptide that is synthesized, stored and secreted by somatotropic cells within the
lateral wings of the anterior pituitary gland.
GH is a stress hormone that stimulates production of IGF-1 and raises the concentration of glucose
and free fatty acids.[1][2]
A recombinant form of hGH called somatropin (INN) is used as a prescription drug to treat
children's growth disorders and adult growth hormone deficiency. In the United States, it is only
available legally from pharmacies, by prescription from a doctor. In recent years in the United States,
some doctors have started to prescribe growth hormone in GH-deficient older patients (but not on
healthy people) to increase vitality. While legal, the efficacy and safety of this use for HGH has not
been tested in a clinical trial. At this time, HGH is still considered a very complex hormone, and
many of its functions are still unknown.[3]
In its role as an anabolic agent, HGH has been used by competitors in sports since at least 1982,
and has been banned by the IOC and NCAA. Traditional urine analysis does not detect doping with
HGH, so the ban was unenforceable until the early 2000s, when blood tests that could distinguish
between natural and artificial HGH were starting to be developed. Blood tests conducted
by WADA at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece targeted primarily HGH.[3] Use of the drug
for performance enhancement is not currently approved by the FDA.
GH has been studied for use in raising livestock more efficiently in industrial agriculture and several
efforts have been made to obtain governmental approval to use GH in livestock production. These
uses have been controversial. In the United States, the only FDA-approved use of GH for livestock is
the use of a cow-specific form of GH called bovine somatotropin for increasing milk production in
dairy cows. Retailers are permitted to label containers of milk as produced with or without bovine
somatotropin.

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