When we study and think seriously about our body, we begin to realize that it’s not just a wonderful natural phenomenon that enables us to grow, move about and propagate It also has some amazing properties that stimulate practically every single tissue in the body including the bones so that the body can function properly. This article has interesting information which you might miss if you stop reading now so read on to learn more about HGH.

What is human growth hormone (HGH)?

Briefly, human growth hormone (HGH) or growth hormone (GH) is a special hormone that’s produced by your pituitary gland situated at the front base of your brain.

It plays a key role in the growth of the body, composition of the body, repair of cells and the different chemical activities and processes that make up the body’s metabolism.

The growth hormone (GH) also called Somatotropin or human growth hormone, (peptide hormone)is produced and secreted by the anterior lobe or the front part of the pituitary gland.

Somatotropin is responsible for stimulating the growth of practically all tissues in your body including the bones.

The growth hormone (GH) is synthesized and then released by frontal pituitary cells called somatotrophs which release some 1 to 2 milligrams of growth hormone every day.

The GH is essential for the normal bodily growth in children and the levels released continue to increase during a person’s childhood and reach its peak during rapid growth that takes place during puberty.

Action dynamics of the growth hormone (GH)

Biochemically speaking, the growth hormone (GH) is responsible for causing the synthesis of protein and boosts the breakdown offat for providing the energy required for the growth of body tissue. GH also opposes or antagonizes the activities of insulin in the body.

GH can act directly on tissues, with most of its effects are used for the stimulation of the liver and other bodily tissues for the production of insulin-like growth factors, known as insulin-likegrowth factor 1 (IGF-1 formerly known as somatomedin).

The name insulin-like growth factor comes from high concentrations of these IGF-1 to copy the action of insulin in the body even though their main role is that of stimulating body growth.

The most active stage of the serum IGF-1 groupings tends to continue increasing as children continue to grow and then rapidly accelerates in unison with the growth spurt that usually occurs at the onset of puberty.

The concentrations of IGF-1, gradually decreases soon after puberty and continues to decrease with age as do concentrations or groupings of GH.

Close examination of GH secretion

Growth hormone releasing hormones (GHRH) are responsible for stimulating GH secretion and the secretions are hampered by somatostatin or IGF-1 groupings that try to imitate the action of insulin.

GH secretion also pulsates with surges of secretion taking place when a person is in deep sleep especiallyaround the puberty growth phase.

In normal healthy persons, GH secretion rises in response to falling food intake and to certain physiological stresses and with poor response to the ingestion of food.

In some cases, where there is an abnormal fluctuation of secretions of GH, from either a deficiency or excessive secretions some individuals may become affected.

Growth hormone deficiency

Deficiency in the growth hormone (GH) can be witnessed by the short stature or dwarfism of individuals so affected.

The main reason for GH deficiency is caused by damage to the hypothalamus or to the pituitary gland itself during the development of the fetus (congenital GH deficiency) or after birth (acquired GH deficiency).

The deficiency of GH may also be the result of mutations in genes which regulate its synthesizing and secretion actions.

Genes affected include PIT-1(pituitary-specific transcription fator-1) and POUF-1 which reveals the onset of PIT-1.

These gene mutations may also result in decreased synthesis and secretion of the other pituitary hormones.

Sometimes GH deficiency may be caused by GHRH deficiency, and if so, secretion may be stimulated by an infusion with GHRH.

In other cases of GH deficiency, the somatotrophs are unable to produce GH themselves, or the hormone is structurally unsound and possesses very little growth-enticing activity.

Also, dwarfism and GH deficiency are mainly found in children who suffer from psychosocial dwarfism which is brought on by chronic lack of emotional support.

Once children with the disorder are removed from the stressful, anti-nurturing surroundings, their endocrine or internal secretion function and growth rate usually return to normal.

Children with isolated GH deficiency

When they are born, these children are perfectly normal in size, but retardation in growth start to appear during the first two years of their life.

X-ray films (radiographs) show that the epiphyses or growing ends of bones appear retarded when compared with a patient’s age.

For women who are affected by dwarfism, their puberty is often delayed, however, fertility and giving birth to normal children by them is possible.

Treatment given to patients with GF deficiency

Most often, GH deficiency is treated with counter injections of GH. However the supply of the hormone was limited due to the fact that it was available only from the cadaver pituitaries of humans.

To make things worse, the use of this naturally available growth hormone was stopped in the United States and other countries because of its contamination by a pathogenic agent called a prion that caused a fatal condition called Creutzfel-Jacob disease.

Using recombinant DNA technology, researchers were able to quickly produce a biosynthetic hormone form they called somatrem, which resulted in an unlimited supply of the once rare hormone.

Efficacy of the recombinant GH (somatrem)

Children who suffer from GH deficiency respond well to injections with recombinant GH by achieving very close to normal heights.

However children with an inherited inability to synthesize GH tended to develop antibodies as their reaction to the hormone injections.

Children of short height not caused by GH deficiency may gain height from hormone injections, but large doses would be required for them for best results.

Sometimes some individuals have an inherited a condition that is insensitive to GH influence known as Laron dwarfism. Here, GH receptors play a dominant role that result in decreased GH-stimulated production of IGF-1 and bad growth.

Sometimes serum GH concentrations are high because IGF-1 lacks is unable to prevent excessive secretion which may result in dwarfism.

Additionally, dwarfism may be caused by bone tissue insensitivity and other tissues to IGF-1, because of decreased action of IGF-1 receptors.

 GH deficiency can also be found in adulthood and is usually accompanied by symptoms of fatigue, energy decline, decreased muscle power, decline in muscle mass, dry, thin skin, depression, rise in adipose tissue, and decreased density of your bones.

Some of these problems can be treated with GH treatment but there side effects which includes fluid retention, diabetes mellitus, and high blood pressure or hypertension.

Conclusion

You are offered such a wealth of information in this article it’s difficult for you not to admit that some of them are somewhat difficult to digest. However it all becomes easy to grasp when you accept the fact that the human growth hormone or GHG virtually controls how your body grows, how it functions within itself and how it repairs virtually all the cells in the body to make an indispensible part of the body’s metabolism.