Is growth hormone a protein?

Growth hormone is a hormone that can promote human growth and development. It is one of the many important hormones in the human body. Growth hormone works by acting on target cells to promote body growth, but many people do not understand the nature of growth hormone. Some people think it is made of protein, while others think it is other unknown substances. Let's see if growth hormone is a protein.

Growth hormone is a recombinant human growth hormone with DNA and has the same effect as human growth hormone. It can promote the growth of bones, internal organs and the whole body. It promotes protein synthesis, affects fat and mineral metabolism, and plays a key role in human growth and development. About 80% of subcutaneous injection is absorbed, reaching peak blood concentration in 5 hours, and the half-life is 4 hours. 90% of the injected dose is metabolized in the liver, and only about 0.1% is excreted unchanged from the bile duct and kidneys.

Secretion and mechanism of action of growth hormone:

A general term for various hormones that can regulate and control the endocrine mechanism of animals, so that the nutrients entering the body are redistributed in a beneficial direction according to human needs for animal growth. Hormones only regulate (increase or decrease) the speed of certain physiological reactions, but they themselves cannot provide energy for the reaction process or initiate new metabolic reactions. Therefore, overstimulation of the original response can be just as harmful as a hormone deficiency. In the past, thiouracil, iodinated protein, and diethylstilbestrol were used as feed growth hormone additives, but they were soon banned due to side effects.

The growth hormone used as a feed additive today has a molecular weight of about 22,000. It is a pituitary hormone. It is a single-chain polypeptide molecule composed of 191 amino acids in a certain order and can be extracted from the pituitary gland. It can also be produced by recombinant DNA technology. Growth hormone acts on the entire body, affecting protein synthesis, sugar metabolism, regulating renal function (glomerular filtration rate) and water metabolism, and increasing cell permeability to amino acids, thereby promoting the growth of the body (bone, muscle and organs). This hormone is species-specific. The growth hormone in cattle is only effective for cattle. When used in other species, it not only fails to promote growth, but also causes adverse reactions.

After oral administration, this hormone is broken down by digestive enzymes, broken down into amino acids and becomes ineffective. Often, the entire protein molecule is not used, but only 38 to 40 amino acid fragments, and even smaller peptides are active. They can promote the growth of young animals and prevent dwarfism caused by low secretion of growth hormone; they can increase milk secretion in animals with lactogenic tissue. In addition, there has been progress in the research on growth hormone for pigs. Injecting it into piglets can promote growth and increase lean meat. The mechanism of action of hormones is very different from that of general feed additives. Therefore, it is difficult to judge their overall benefits and disadvantages using general feeding tests and metabolic tests. A comprehensive evaluation from the perspectives of endocrinology, toxicology and even genetics is required. In addition, for countries and regions with scarce protein resources, their nutritional resource background and actual economic effects should also be considered. Under low nutritional levels, growth hormone often fails to achieve the expected effects.