Entry of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) into cells occurs by fusion with cell membranes; it requires gD as the receptor binding glycoprotein and the trigger of fusion, and the trio of the conserved glycoproteins gB, gH, and gL to execute fusion. Recently, we reported that the ectodomain of HSV-1 gH carries a hydrophobic alpha-helix (residues 377 to 397) with attributes of an internal fusion pep...

Diagnostic confirmation of growth hormone (GH) deficiency in children and adults is based on stimulation tests designed to assess the pituitary reserve by measuring the amount of GH released into the bloodstream; however, the results obtained by this means cannot provide any direct indication of the amount of GH actually produced by pituitary somatotroph cells. The present paper sought to test ...

OBJECTIVE Measurement of serum insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) and IGF binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) levels has been recommended as a useful index for monitoring of growth hormone (GH) therapy in GH deficient children. In this study we aimed to evaluate IGF-1/IGFBP-3 molar ratio during GH treatment as an index of safety and efficacy. METHODS Serum IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 levels and molar ratio o...

The effects of long term in vitro exposure witil octreotide of human GH secreting pituitary adenoma cells were investigated on GH release, intracellular GH concentrations, and GH mRNA levels. Incubation of tile adenoma cells for 4 days witil 10nM octreotide induced a dose-dependent inhibition of GH release, while in parallel an increase (maximal increase varying between 24 and 517%) in the intr...

BACKGROUND Diminished growth hormone (GH) is associated with impaired endothelial function and fibrinolysis. GH-releasing hormone is the primary stimulus for GH secretion and a substrate of dipeptidyl peptidase-4. We tested the hypothesis that dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibition with sitagliptin increases stimulated GH secretion, vasodilation, and tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) activity. ME...

Objective Growth hormone (GH) deficiency has recently been reported as a cause of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), and GH supplementation has been shown to improve the histology of NAFLD. The aim of the present study was to clarify the relationship between the histological severity of NAFLD and production of the GH/insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) axis. Methods A total of 222 Japan...

This study was undertaken to evaluate the biological potency of two synthetic human growth hormone-releasing factors, hGRF (1-44)NH2 and hGRF (1-29)NH2, on growth hormone (GH) release in young dairy heifers (n = 10) and pigs (n = 10). In each species, the GH response to an iv injection (0, .067, .2, .6 and 1.8 nmol.kg-1 body weight) of each peptide was evaluated in a double 5 X 5 Latin square d...

OBJECTIVE G to A transition at position 6664 of the growth hormone (GH-1) gene results in the substitution of Arg183 by His (R183H) in the GH protein and causes a new form of autosomal dominant isolated GH deficiency (IGHD type II). The aim of this study was to assess the bioactivity of this R183H mutant GH in comparison with both other GH variants and the 22-kDa GH in terms of GH-receptor gene...

Growth hormone (GH) is the most important hormone that controls somatic cell growth and the syntheses of protein, fat, and carbohydrates. This study was to identify gene polymorphism of GH-1 using PCR- single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) technique and its association with growth traits including condition factor (CF), body weight (BW) and total length (TL) in common carp (Cyprinus ca...