Functional Category
Growth Hormone Axis
Last updated
Compounds grouped by their action on the chain running from the hypothalamus to the pituitary gland and on to the liver: the signals that prompt the pituitary to release growth hormone, and the IGF-1 response that follows. Members reach the same gland by two different receptors, so a GHRH analogue and a ghrelin-receptor secretagogue both sit here despite acting on different targets. Growth hormone itself is longer than this site's peptide boundary and still belongs here, because the category is about which axis a compound acts on rather than molecular size.
Why it matters here
Most compounds on this shelf act indirectly, asking the pituitary for hormone rather than supplying any, so the reported outcome depends on a gland that can still respond, and these records often carry a lower rung for the outcome than for the mechanism.
What it is not
Not the same as taking growth hormone: a secretagogue prompts release of your own supply while recombinant growth hormone supplies it directly, and evidence for one is not evidence for the other. Do not read GH axis here as the pathway term either, because this is a browsing shelf while Growth Hormone / IGF-1 Axis describes the biology a mechanism acts on.
Also called
- gh axis
- gh-axis
- growth hormone
- ghrh
- gh secretagogue
- growth hormone secretagogue
GH secretagogue is the older trade term for anything that prompts growth hormone release, and it covers two distinct receptor mechanisms rather than one. GHRH is a specific hormone name used loosely as a category label.
Compounds carrying this term
None on file yet. This term is in the controlled vocabulary but no compound record currently uses it — which is a statement about our coverage, not about the term.