Strobl J S, Thomas M J
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center, West Virginia University, Morgantown.
Pharmacol Rev. 1994 Mar;46(1):1-34.
The study of human growth hormone is a little more than 100 years old. Growth hormone, first identified for its dramatic effect on longitudinal growth, is now known to exert generalized effects on protein, lipid, and carbohydrate metabolism. Additional roles for growth hormone in human physiology are likely to be discovered in the areas of sleep research and reproduction. Furthermore, there is some indication that growth hormone also may be involved in the regulation of immune function, mental well-being, and the aging process. Recombinant DNA technology has provided an abundant and safe, albeit expensive, supply of human growth hormone for human use, but the pharmacological properties of growth hormone are poor. Most growth hormone-deficient individuals exhibit a secretory defect rather than a primary defect in growth hormone production, however, and advances in our understanding of the neuroendocrine regulation of growth hormone secretion have established the basis for the use of drugs to stimulate release of endogenously synthesized growth hormone. This promises to be an important area for future drug development.
对人类生长激素的研究已有100多年的历史。生长激素最初因其对纵向生长的显著作用而被发现，现在已知它对蛋白质、脂质和碳水化合物代谢具有广泛影响。生长激素在人类生理学中的其他作用可能会在睡眠研究和生殖领域被发现。此外，有迹象表明生长激素也可能参与免疫功能、心理健康和衰老过程的调节。重组DNA技术为人类提供了丰富且安全（尽管昂贵）的人类生长激素供应，但生长激素的药理特性较差。然而，大多数生长激素缺乏的个体表现出分泌缺陷而非生长激素产生的原发性缺陷，并且我们对生长激素分泌的神经内分泌调节的理解取得的进展为使用药物刺激内源性合成的生长激素释放奠定了基础。这有望成为未来药物开发的一个重要领域。
