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growth hormone
Wiktionary
growth hormone

n. 1 Any polypeptide hormone, secreted by the pituitary gland, that promotes growth and regulates the metabolism of carbohydrates, proteins and lipids. 2 Any synthetic substance that promotes growth in animals or plants.

WordNet
growth hormone

n. a hormone produced by the anterior pituitary gland; promotes growth in humans [syn: somatotropin, somatotrophin, somatotropic hormone, somatotrophic hormone, STH, human growth hormone]

Wikipedia
Growth hormone

Growth hormone (GH), also known as somatotropin (or 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 raises the concentration of glucose and free fatty acids. It also stimulates production of IGF-1.

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.

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. 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.

Usage examples of "growth hormone".

It sometimes happens that the pituitary of an adult, who has achieved his full measurements and has ceased growing long since, begins to produce an oversupply of growth hormone.

Alvin Hayes was a world-class molecular biologist who had been on the cover of Time magazine after having developed a method of making human growth hormone from recombinant DNA technology.

The growth hormone he had made was exactly like the human variety.

There was no way she could synthesize the growth hormone I needed.

It could be fatal if not controlled by injections of a cocktail of enzymes that included vitamin B12 and a growth hormone that prompted my body to create new red blood cells.

I just don't know about stepping up the growth hormone, Vaagen's so uncertain about its effect on bone friability.

But when thirty square feet of rhubarb plants began breathing out carbon monoxide as a result of sudden heredity changes brought on by the ganimexene Macduff was promptly sent down to the kitchens, where he introduced a growth hormone into the soup, with nearly catastrophic results.

Six months was how long it took a moldie's body to generate a sufficient amount of its reproductive growth hormone.

Due to the growth hormone limitation, the Cappy Jane moldies couldn't reproduce any further than that, but for a while they kept pecking, bulking up their bodies with additional imipolex.

The six-month condition had to do with the fact that, when reproducing, a moldie's system generated a growth hormone that spurred its mold-and-algae nervous system to speed-grow a fresh nervous system into virgin imipolex.