What is HGH, HGF, IGF-1, somatomedin C, and how does it work?

Here it is in terms that people other than doctors can understand.

Human growth hormone(HGH) is the most abundant hormone made by the pituitary gland. It is released into the bloodstream in brief bursts at different times of the day and night. Often referred to as the "master hormone" because it exerts effects over all other hormones in the body. It is present in all body tissues.

Once HGH is in the bloodstream, it stimulates the building and creation of a wide range of enzymes, hormones, and other growth factors factors. The most important of these growth factors is called IGF-1, short for Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1 is also known as somatomedin C). Because IGF-1 remains in the blood stream for a long period of time and the level of IGF-1 reflects the amount of hGH the IGF-1 is tested for as an indicator of hGH released.

HGH works by stimulating protein production and synthesis in all tissues of the body. This results in an increase in organ healing and regeneration, which is associated with increase resistance to illness and injury..

It's often misstated that IGF-1, rather than HGH that does the actual work of stimulating protein production and synthesis in the body tissues. It was previously thought that IGF-1 is responsible for the majority of benefits associated with HGH.

Information on HGH
Researchers are excited about HGH, and for good reason. They know HGH has a vast potential to heal and improve the body. Some bodybuilders are also enjoying the muscle building benefits of HGH also.

Human Growth Hormone and IGF-1
"The blueprint of aging is in the DNA under the hood of the telomere", the "clock" at the end of every chromosome that is shortened with each cell division, says noted plastic surgeon and anti-aging researcher, Vincent Giampapa, MD, director of clinical research at the Longevity Institute International in Montclair, New Jersey.

To actually reverse aging at the cellular level, we will need a substance that will restore telomere length and like a genie turn old cells back into young ones. This cannot be done yet but Giampapa believes it will be possible in less than a decade. Until then, growth hormone and its worker hormone IGF-1 can do the next best thing, help keep the cell in as healthy a state as possible.

The cell's ability to function depends on the genetic material, the DNA, in the nucleus of the cell which are codes for all the proteins, hormones, and enzymes that make the cell run. The DNA is like an army under constant attack from oxygen free-radicals, ultraviolet light, the heat of the body, and other damaging factors. Although the DNA has the ability to repair itself, it falls down on the job with age, a victim of the same aging process that affects the cell. At the same time, damage is accumulating in the energy center of the cell, the mitochondria, which has its own DNA. Up until now, one of the few ways we could limit the damage to the DNA was to take antioxidant supplements such as vitamin C and E to bolster our own defenses.

But, according to Dr. Giampapa and Thierry Hertoghe, MD, a physician specializing in hormone replacement therapy in Brussels, the latest European research shows that HGH and IGF-1 can do what antioxidants cannot. Human growth hormone and IGF-1 act like carriers to bring the cell the raw materials it needs for renovation and repair. IGF-1 launches the delivery of the nucleic acids, DNA and RNA, right into the cell nucleus, where the DNA resides. The nucleic acids are used to repair damage to the DNA and stimulate cell division. HGH initiates the transport of amino acids, the building blocks of protein, and nucleic acids into the cytoplasm of the cell, the area outside the nucleus. This includes the cell membranes and intracellular organelles, such as the mitochondria. In this way, HGH and IGF-1 don't just minimize the damage to the DNA and cellar structures, they help heal the cell and the DNA. These two hormones actually treat the blueprints of aging.

HGH & IGF-1 Preventing Brain Aging and Disease
One of the spectacularly exciting uses of HGH and IGF-1 may be to prevent and treat the effects of brain aging. In an experiment that has momentous implications for brain injury, stroke, aging, and neurodegenerative disease, a team of scientists in New Zealand showed that HGH & IGF-1 can stop the death of cells in the brain.

Barbara Johnston, Peter Gluckman, and their colleagues at the University of Auckland found that injections of HGH given 2 hours after brain injury in fetal lambs rescued the damaged neurons and salvaged cells that would otherwise have died during apoptosis, which is the programmed cell death that is believed to cause the loss of brain cells for up to 3 days after the original injury. The treatment was effective in stopping the cell death throughout the brain, including the hippocampus, the cortex, the areas associated with thinking and memory. The treatment was also effective in the striatum, the part of the brain that plays a role in Parkinson's disease in humans. The intake of HGH and resulting increase of IGF-1 replacement was also found to reduce seizures in animals with brain damage.

These researchers also suggest that IGF-1 might be used to inhibit the effects of neonatal hypoxia during birth (lack of oxygen to the brain) which can leave a baby with permanent brain damage. If IGF-1 can stop the programmed death of cells, then this opens up a world of undreamed-of-possibilities. For instance, the programmed death of cardiac cells after a heart attack leaves the victim with a heart full of dead tissue that before could not be repaired. Brain tissue is destroyed due to a stroke (CVA), and this cell death many times leaves the victim unable to walk, talk, or think clearly. It may also play a role in other neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, muscular dystrophy, and multiple sclerosis. For the first time we may have a weapon against death at the cellular level.

IGF-1 Improving Glucose Metabolism
IGF-1, or insulin-like growth factor-1, has similar properties to insulin, and it has been shown to improve blood sugar profiles in type 2 diabetic patients. High doses of growth hormone have been shown to increase insulin resistance, but IGF-1 administration actually normalized the insulin resistance in a group of healthy volunteers.

In the latter study, Nelly Mauras and Bernard Beaufrere of the Nemours Children's Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, were looking at several different things: the effect of IGF-1 on protein metabolism; its ability to stop the protein-wasting caused by glucocorticosteroid drugs like prednisone, and its effect on insulin and glucose metabolism. They divided the volunteers into three groups who got one of the following: IGF-1 alone, IGF-1 plus prednisone, and prednisone alone. The study found that IGF-1 at 100 micrograms per kilogram of body weight given twice daily enhanced the body's protein metabolism in the same way as growth hormone. Like growth hormone, it markedly decreased the protein breakdown in the volunteers who were taking prednisone. But whereas growth hormone in an earlier study caused carbohydrate intolerance and insulin resistance when given in combination with prednisone, IGF-1 did not cause these diabetes-like effects. Instead, those subjects who received IGF-1 along with prednisone had normal glucose metabolism. This was remarkable, say the researchers, in light of the fact that glucocorticoids are known to suppress circulating insulin and decrease insulin sensitivity. As a result of this and previous studies, the researchers believe that IGF-1 offers promise in the treatment of protein catabolic states, such as patients who require IV feedings after surgery.

IGF-1 Helping Diabetes
Two 1997 double-blind clinical studies showed that recombinant IGF-1 injections can markedly reduce the need for insulin by up to 45% in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. One study involved 8 adults between ages 24 and 49 and the other 43 children and adolescents between the ages of 8 and 17. In the adult trial, IGF-1 also lowered the total cholesterol and triglycerides after only four days of treatment.

While these were short term trials lasting nineteen days and four weeks, respectively, the fact that the insulin requirement dropped markedly and there were no serious side effects make IGF-1 a promising drug for the treatment of diabetes. While it does not do away with the need for insulin, it improved the control of blood sugar and thus may help prevent the dire complications of diabetes, including heart disease, blindness, and peripheral nerve damage that can lead to amputation.

IGF-1 Regenerating Nerves
IGF-1 may possibly be used to repair peripheral nerve tissue that has been damaged. If a nerve is torn in the arm or leg, it means that the connection to the muscle may be impaired, and as a result there is loss of movement and the muscle atrophies. While peripheral nerves can regenerate to some extent, severe tears of more than a few millimeters may result in permanent injury. Now IGF-1 has repaired and reconnected severed nerve endings of up to a distance of 6 millimeters, a feat previously unheard of.

Swedish scientist Hans-Arne Hansson of the Institute of Neurobiology at the University of Goteborg found that IGF-1 and other growth factors could stimulate even more dramatic regeneration. "IGF-1 by itself and in combination with other growth factors is likely to be of importance in promoting healing and repair processes in clinical practice within a few years," he writes.

In studies of cells in culture and in animals, IGF-1 has been shown to have remarkable effects on the spinal cord motor neurons. It increased motor neuron activity in spinal cord cultures by 150 to 270 percent. And it significantly decreased programmed cell death in developing chick embryos. In animal studies, it enhanced the sprouting of axons of the spinal cord motor neurons. And it increased intramuscular nerve sprouting a whopping ten fold when it was given to normal adult rats. In fact, according to a group of researchers at Cephalon, Inc., in West Chester, Pennsylvania, IGF-1 may be the "long-sought endogenous motor neuron sprouting factor."

The possibilities for IGF-1 seem to be endless at this time. If IGF-1 can regenerate spinal cord motor neurons, it may be useful in treating amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a disease that causes the loss of spinal cord and cortical motor neurons and results in complete paralysis and death. It may also be useful for other peripheral neuropathies.

Dr. Wittig of UCLA has been using IGF-1 to prevent AIDS wasting in HIV infected patients. IGF-1 may allow more aggressive chemotherapy of certain cancers, since drugs like vincristine and cisplatin can cause peripheral neuropathies at higher doses.
The Growth Factor Army

IGF-1 is only one of the body's many growth factors that are now being identified, isolated, and cloned using genetic engineering technology for use as drugs. Eric Dupont, Ph.D., says that HGH is the general and IGF-1 and growth factors are the foot soldiers." IGF-1 and growth factors function similarly to hormones, however hormones usually send long distance messages and IGF-1 and the growth factors usually send local messages.

IGF-1, The Bodybuilder's Dream
Muscle Mass 2000 magazine describes IGF-1 as "Possibly the Most Potent Bodybuilding Drug Ever!" Author T.C. Luoma, says that IGF-1 is available at some Southern California gyms. There are no controlled studies supporting the bodybuilder's claims of gaining up to 20 lb. of muscle mass but the evidence is increasing. Some of these bodybuilders say they have experienced a 5% drop in body fat in a month, while at the same time experiencing significant increases in lean muscle mass and strength. These bodybuilders seem convinced that IGF-1 can offer the benefits they have been hoping for.

Dr. Di Pasquale, an expert in performance-enhancing compounds, but there is a rationale for the belief that HGH taken with IGF-1 will work better. There is a feedback mechanism between the human growth hormone in the pituitary gland and the IGF-1 in the liver. The human growth hormone stimulates the release of IGF-1, but when the levels of IGF-1 rise to a certain point in the circulation, it signals the shutdown of HGH release. But there is a lag time, which means that HGH levels increase at night and IGF-1 levels increase during the day. Bodybuilders hope that taking HGH and IGF-1 together will have a double-fisted effect on protein synthesis. See More About Bodybuilding!

The first major study showing the promise of HGH therapy was published in the New England Journal of Medicine (Rudman; 323:1-6 1990).

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