What is a hormone?

Let’s begin with what a hormone is. A hormone is nothing more than a chemical messenger that is produced in one location in your body and then travels some distance to reach cells which are programmed to respond to the hormone. Sometimes the distance is relatively great, as is the case with HGH. Sometimes the distance is very short, no farther than from one cell type that produces the hormone to another cell type immediately adjacent which has the ability to respond to the hormone. This is what happens with the most important mediator of HGH action, another hormone that we call IGF-1. (If you have access to some older literature, you may find that this hormone is called by another name, Somatomedin C.) You have probably already deduced that one of the most important ways that a hormone like HGH that has such a major controlling function in the body exerts its influence is by the stimulation of the production of other potent hormones. When the hormone reaches its target cell, it binds to a structure called a receptor. Think of a key fitting into a lock. That is about as close to a perfect analogy as you will ever encounter. You have to have the right key, and the lock must be in good working order. Otherwise, the mechanism will not operate as it is designed to do, and the process of turning the lock will be at best inefficient and at worst will not take place at all. Finally, once the key is inserted properly and the lock is turned, actual chemical switches in the target cell are either turned on or turned off and complex metabolic pathways are either activated or inactivated.
 

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How does a hormone work?

Now you know what a hormone is and the basics of how a hormone works. As you work your way through this short course in HGH physiology (there’s one of those intimidating words), I want you to develop an understanding of what we know about how this system operates with HGH and what aging does to this vital apparatus in our bodies. I am convinced that this is the best way for you to understand the magnificent potential that HGH has in preventing and even reversing many of the most troublesome aspects of this process that we call aging. Growth hormone (we have been using the standard abbreviation “HGH”, and we will continue to do that for consistency sake) is produced by specialized cells located in the pituitary gland. The pituitary gland is about the size and shape of cherry, and it is even attached to the base of the brain by a stalk. Passing through the stalk, bundles of nerve fibers and a network of the tiniest blood vessels in the body, called capillaries, provide the connection to the control center for pituitary activity. The control center is located in the part of the brain called the hypothalamus, right above the pituitary, near where the stalk attaches to the bottom surface of the brain. The specialized nerve cells in the hypothalamus that are responsible for controlling HGH secretion produce a very small protein which is called Growth Hormone Releasing Factor (GRF) which is released into the capillary network running through the stalk. The GRF then drives the pituitary cells committed to HGH production to synthesize HGH and release it into the circulation. The HGH then travels throughout the body stimulating the production of IGF-1, which is primarily responsible for exerting HGH's controlling influence.

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How is the growth hormone related to aging?

It isn’t at all clear why or how it happens, but there is no question that starting sometime in mid-adulthood the level of HGH production begins to decline and will inevitably reach the very low levels that we see in victims of pituitary deficiency. In fact, our current understanding of the situation with age-related changes in HGH production is based on research and experience with adults who suffer from deficiency of pituitary function. Unfortunately, it has proven to be impossible to rejuvenate the pituitary’s capacity for HGH production once it has begun to decline. The good news is that HGH replacement therapy has been shown to produce the same dramatic changes in physical and biochemical characteristics in people whose HGH levels have declined due to aging as we see in patients who have pituitary deficiency.

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