Growth Hormone

About Growth Hormone:

Growth hormone (GH) is sometimes called somatotropin, or simply human growth hormone (HGH). It is known to help stimulate cell growth and reproduction, which leads to increased cell regeneration in human bodies. Therefore, it is argued that GH is essential in regular human development. As a peptide hormone, it is a type of mitogen that is specifically present in certain types of cells.
There are many forms of human growth hormone found in the medicinal and pharmaceutical worlds. The most common of which is a recombinant form that’s given as a prescription drug to children with growth problems and deficiency. HGH has also been banned by many major sports and athletics committees due to the role it plays in the human body. It can be used as an anabolic steroid to elicit performance advantages in athletes.

Function
Growth hormone mainly has anabolic effects on tissues in the human body. This means it tends to help build them up. The most common example of its function is the increased height of children as they grow up. Children that are small and don’t experience growth spurts are known to have a deficiency in human growth hormone.
But, the function of HGH doesn’t end here. It is also known to help improve calcium retention in cells, which leads to an increase in bone strength. Furthermore, it can help improve and increase muscle mass through a process known as hypertrophy.In conjunction with this. HGH also boosts protein synthesis in the body.
Human growth hormone also acts to grow all the organs in the body, with the exception of the brain. It also reduces the way the liver takes in glucose, and can play a key role in homeostasis. Another well-known function of this growth hormone is the way it acts to stimulate the immune system.

Mechanism/Interactions
HGH stimulates height in children by at least two different mechanisms. The first is that GH uses some of its effects to connect with receptors on target cells, activating something known as the MAPK/ERK pathway. By doing this, growth hormone can help divide and multiple chondrocytes of cartilage. This is important because most polypeptide hormones can’t penetrate cell membranes due to them not being fat-soluble.
Secondly, growth hormone helps to induce the production of IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1). It does this through the JAK-STAT signaling pathway. It interacts with the liver, which is the main place where IGF-1 is produced. IGF-1 is known to help stimulate growth in many different tissues.

Structure
Human growth hormone is primarily comprised of a protein weighing 22, 124 daltons. It contains 191 amino acids, and the structure can be described as having four helices. These helices are essential for interacting with the GH receptor, which helps elicit its various functions. A closer look at the structure of GH reveals that it is homologous to prolactin and chorionic somatomammotropin.
There are many growth hormones present in different species, but only human growth hormone and old world monkey growth hormone will have any effect on the HGH receptor.