Growth Hormone Treatment: Its History and Future

Perhaps you have heard of the term growth hormone treatment, but you are not quite sure what it really means. A form of hormone treatment, this therapy involves the use of the human growth hormone to treat certain conditions and deficiencies. As there are many factors, pros, and cons in the use of such treatment, it would be fit if you'll try to get to know first how this type of treatment works and to which conditions it is generally recommended. So without further ado, we are now going to talk about this type of treatment.

First, we are going to take a little bit of history lesson. This type of treatment started in the early 1950, when humans have learned how to extract human growth hormones from human sources. Sure, hormone treatment has already existed for decades during that time (one notable hormone treatment is the use of insulin for diabetes treatment), the use of growth hormones from different sources such as other animals is deemed ineffective because the hormone found in humans is largely different from typical "donor" animals such as pigs and cattle. Ever since the successful purification by Maurice Raben from human sources, this type of hormone treatment has now become a viable option for the treatment of various diseases, most notably dwarfism resulting from hormone deficiency.

Only a few people can receive human growth hormones to use for treatment back then because they are extracted from human pituitary glands during autopsy. Because of the short supply of people willing to go through autopsy to extract hormones from their endocrine glands, supply tends to be short. In some cases, patients are even rejected from receiving treatment unless their case is of the severe kind. However, a breakthrough was accomplished in 1981, when recombinant technology was developed. After the refining of the recombination technique, it was finally sold in the market in 1985 under the brand name Protropin. Because all of a sudden pharmaceuticals can synthesize their own hormones, a competition ensued among different pharmaceutical companies on who can sell the best (or at least the most) hormone treatments.

The main use of human growth hormones is to treat those who are affected with dwarfism caused by hormonal deficiency. The causes of deficiency may vary, but this is usually caused by the inactivity of the pituitary gland. Children who are subjected to this treatment are observed to have dramatic growth within months of use. In addition to growth, development of muscle mass and motor movement is also observed. When used for adults, bone and muscle density improvement is observed, among other effects. This has led to some people believing that this hormone has strong anti-aging properties.

However, the use of growth hormones has its own share of controversies. Other than the huge cost of attaining this form of treatment, there are side effects associated with the use of this hormone. In addition, some ethical issues have arisen because of its roots from recombinant technology. Still, it cannot be denied that for those who are affected by the deficiency in growth hormones, the treatment can play such a huge role in changing their lives.