Growth hormones are proteins that are involved in regulating protein metabolism as well as fat, carbohydrate, and mineral metabolism. Human growth hormone (hGH) is a linear polypeptide with 191 amino acids and contains two intrachain disulfide bridges. Growth Hormone (GH), which is secreted by the pituitary gland, has wide-ranging developmental effects on the organism. Artificial manipulation of growth hormone levels has been demonstrated to have significant therapeutic utility. The release of growth hormone from pituitary organs is under tight control of a second protein, growth hormone releasing factor (GRF), which is also commonly known in the art as somatomedin, growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH), growth releasing hormone (GRH) and neurotransmitters either directly or indirectly. The major biological effect of hGH is to promote growth. The organ systems affected include the skeleton, connective tissue, muscles, and viscera such as liver, intestine, and kidneys. Growth hormone is important not only for linear body growth, but is also important for the maintenance of body composition, metabolism and heart function in adult life. The development of human synthetic growth hormone releasing agents and the use of drugs acting through established neurotrasmitter systems in the brain to stimulate growth hormone releasing are being considered as alternative to highly expensive and lack of oral efficiency growth hormone replacement therapy for the restoration on normal serum growth hormone levels. Human growth hormone supplementation has been shown to be an effective treatment for growth hormone deficiency and their related diseases states in humans.
The benefit of increasing the growth hormone level in human health now well established. Growth hormone has been isolated and purified from mammalian sources and has been produced recombinantly. Recombinant DNA technology opens the way to the large-scale commercial production of human growth hormone, and the recombinant hGH appears to have equivalent biological efficacies and pharmacokinetic properties. Growth hormone effects an increase in tissue and organ weight, which results from an increase in mitosis, cellular hypertrophy, hyperplasia and cellular water. Growth hormone also stimulates the increased uptake of amino acids into cells, resulting in protein synthesis. Growth hormone is responsible for proper growth and development until adulthood and then regulates nearly every organ in the body. Human growth hormone stimulates the growth of various organs and tissues in the body that include skeletal tissues, the synthesis of IGF-I, cellular amino acid uptake and protein synthesis wound healing in elderly healthy subjects, immune functions, lipolysis (the breakdown of fat), the secretion of insulin, and the resistance of tissues to insulin. Administration of pharmacological dosages of human growth hormone is best known for the treatment of growth hormone deficiency disorder in children. Human growth hormone has not only been used in the treatment of pituitary dwarfism, but also known to be effective in the healing promotion of fracture and burn wound and also in the treatment of patients in nutrient malabsorption condition. Growth hormone supplements has been reported to have a great therapeutic utility in the treatment of cachexia in chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, due to growth hormone production abnormalities, enhancement of burn and wound healing, bone healing, retardation of the aging process and osteoporosis. Further, there has been reported that hGH has an immune function potentiation effect or protection effect on tissue injury caused by free radical. Human growth hormone is a potent anabolic agent, especially due to retention of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium.
In general, HGH is mainly used as a part of therapy in the treatment of pituitary dwarfism (caused by malfunctioning of the hypophysis), removal of fatty acids and hence the treatment of obesity, improvement of vascularization; promotion of muscle mass gain in elderly people, the treatment of ulcers and bone fractures, and the acceleration of the regeneration of damaged tissues. In addition to being used to stimulate growth, HGH has also been used as a dietary supplement to maintain a positive nitrogen balance, for the treatment of intoxicated individuals and for the treatment and diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease. Growth hormone has also been shown to act on the immune system of animals by increasing the production of macrophages, and by activating their oxidative metabolism. Growth hormone (GH) has pleiotropic effects on cholesterol metabolism. HGH stimulates the expression of hepatic low density lipoprotein (LDL)-receptors and the activity of cholesterol 7-alpha-hydroxylase, a key regulatory step in bile acid synthesis. Growth hormone also has been reported to own prosexual effects, such as enhanced sexual performance and a decrease in the incidence of impotence in males. Erectile function is a hemodynamic process of blood in-flow and pressure maintenance in the cavernosal spaces. The cause of erectile dysfunction (impotence) can be defined by diagnostic modalities, such as color duplex sonography, administration of vasoactive agents into one of the two corpora cavernosa (the erectile bodies in the penis), nocturnal penile tumescence testing, and measurement of the pressure in the cavernosa. Growth hormone may be useful in vivo to prevent or treat erectile dysfunction that occurs after radical prostatectomy, radical cystectomy (removal of the urinary bladder) or other surgeries that may damage the pelvic parasympathetic nerves such as rectal and vascular. GH may be useful to treat other organic causes of erectile dysfunction. Growth hormone in combination with an IGF or another growth factor may be more efficatious in treating erectile dysfunction. |
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