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How do growth hormones affect an animal's growth after birth or hatching?
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Animal development
The embryos of many animals appear similar to one another in the earliest stages of development and progress into their specialized forms in later stages.
Growth hormone, also known as somatotropin, is a peptide hormone secreted by the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland that is essential for physical growth in animals after birth or hatching.123
Its primary effects on growth include:
- Tissue Growth: It stimulates the growth of essentially all body tissues, including bone. It promotes the deposition of new protein material by increasing the rate of [protein synthesis].21
- Metabolic Regulation: The hormone influences metabolism by promoting the release of fats from storage to provide energy for growth and by affecting carbohydrate metabolism, which increases blood glucose levels.12
- Mediated Action: Much of its growth-promoting effect is mediated by the liver and other tissues, which produce insulin-like growth factors (such as IGF-1) in response to growth hormone stimulation.2
Insufficient production of growth hormone after birth can lead to dwarfism, while excessive secretion can result in gigantism if it occurs before the closure of the epiphyses (the growing ends of bones).13