Growth hormone deficiency in adults and its response to growth hormone replacement

摘要

The influence of the pituitary gland on lipid and carbohydrate metabolism became apparent at the beginning of this century when its involvement in growth promotion was first described. In 1921, an abstract, alluding to the primary growth promoting effect of an extract of the pituitary gland, was published. Radioisotope techniques were introduced in the late 1950s, and these enabled studies on the role of growth hormone (GH) in carbohydrate metabolism to be undertaken. Subsequent experiments and the availability of purified human growth hormone (hGH), led to the description of the secretory pattern and speculations concerning the complex interactions with insulin in carbohydrate, lipid and protein metabolism.