Somatropin

Growth hormone made by the pituitary gland or a synthetic version of that hormone. Naturally occurring somatropin is a polypeptide containing 191 amino acids. It is produced specifically by the anterior pituitary, the front section of the gland, and acts by stimulating the release of another hormone called somatomedin by the liver, thereby causing growth. Somatropin is also known as somatotropin. Somatropin is given to children with pituitary dwarfism (short stature due to underfunction of the anterior pituitary) to help them grow.

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A drug identical with human growth hormone; used in the treatment of growth disturbances due to insufficient secretion of growth hormone in children or adults or associated with gonadal dysgenesis (Turner syndrome) and of growth disturbance in prepubertal children with chronic renal insufficiency.

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so·ma·tro·pin sō-'mat-rə-pən, .sō-mə-'trō- n human growth hormone esp a recombinant version of human growth hormone

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so·mat·ro·pin (so-matґro-pin) [USP] a pharmaceutical preparation of growth hormone, having the same amino acid sequence as the natural hormone. Originally derived from cadaver pituitary glands, the human form is now biosynthetic, prepared by recombinant means from Escherichia coli. It is used to treat growth failure and AIDS-associated cachexia or weight loss, administered intramuscularly or subcutaneously.