Abstract

Human growth hormone, secreted by the pituitary gland, is the major hormone responsible for post-natal somatic growth. It acts on a variety of tissues including bone, cartilage and muscle, mediating anabolic, diabetogenic and lipolytic processes. The secretion of growth hormone is modulated principally by two hypothalamic hormones - somatostatin and growth hormone releasing hormone and stimulated by a number of factors including exercise, deep sleep, hypoglycaemia and the infusion of amino acids. Growth hormone is used in the treatment of growth hormone deficient children. It is prepared by extraction from cadaver pituitaries and it is currently in extremely short supply. Growth hormone is now used in sport in an attempt to enhance athletic performance, a situation that may be aggravated by the availability of synthetic growth hormone produced by recombinant DNA techniques. The detection of growth hormone abuse by athletes presents a number of problems. These include significantly fluctuating levels of the endogenous hormone due to numerous factors including exercise; the fact that urinary excretion of growth hormone may not accurately reflect growth hormone status; the availability of a number of hypothalamic peptide hormones that stimulate growth hormone secretion and analytical considerations of measuring large protein hormones. The prevention of growth hormone abuse in sport will probably require strategies other than drug testing, requiring the expertise of professionals within the health education area and an increased emphasis on monitoring availability and distribution. Verf.-Referat