Mutation of the Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone Receptor in the little Mouse

The peptide hormone GHRH is synthesized in and released from neurosecretory cells in the hypothalamic arcuate nuclei. GHRH acts on pituitary somatotroph cells to stimulate the synthesis and secretion of GH ( 1–4 ). The actions of GHRH are opposed by those of somatostatin, a peptide hormone of hypothalamic origin that acts to suppress pituitary growth hormone secretion; together, GHRH and somatostatin are thought to be the predominant mediators of the neural control of GH production ( 5 , 6 ). Although potent synthetic peptide and nonpeptide GH secretagogs have been identified ( 7 , 8 ) and a receptor that binds those compounds has been cloned ( 9 ), no endogenous ligands that activate growth hormone secretion through this receptor have been identified. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.