In Human Growth Hormone: Research and Clinical Ptractice, Roy Smith and a distinguished panel of researchers and clinicians combine a review of GH regulation and its action at the molecular level with a state-of-the-art description of the basis for GH deficiency and the use of GH therapy in a variety of clinical situations. The clinical uses of GH discussed here move beyond the treatment of GH-deficient children to include the genetics of GH-deficiency, GH-deficiency in adults, osteoporosis, Syndrome X, sleep quality, GH in AIDS patients, and GHRH in clinical studies. Also described are a family of GH-secretagogues that bind to a new orphan receptor controlling the physiology of GH release. The discussion of the new GH therapeutics includes their design, their action as regulators in the pituitary gland and in the central nervous system, and their use as new agents for treating growth hormone deficiency states.Human Growth Hormone: Research and Clinical Practice offers an unprecedented cutting-edge synthesis of basic science and clinical practice. Timely and innovative, this book will benefit both basic and clinical researchers, as well as those clinical endocrinologists who want to use growth hormone not only in treating children, but also in treating adult disorders, including those associated with metabolic disease.

1 Overview of Human Growth Hormone: Research and Clinical Practice.- I Research.- 2 GHRP Historical Perspective: Basic and Clinical.- 3 The Design of Peptidomimetic Growth Hormone Secretagogues.- 4 Molecular Characterization of Growth Hormone Secretagogue Receptors.- 5 Central Actions of Peptide and Nonpeptide Growth Hormone Secretagogues.- 6 Pharmacology of Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone and Its Peptide Analogs.- 7 Somatostatin Receptor Subtypes and Regulation of GH Secretion.- 8 Mathematical Modeling of the GH Release Axis.- 9 Activation of the Human Growth Hormone Receptor: Structure and Function of the Ligand-Receptor Complex.- 10 The Central Nervous System as a Direct Target for Growth Hormone Action.- II Clinical Practice.- 11 Molecular Defects of the Growth Hormone Axis.- 12 Growth Hormone: Relevance to Pediatrics.- 13 Growth Hormone Deficiency in Adults: The Rationale for Growth Hormone Replacement.- 14 Growth Hormone and Osteoporosis.- 15 Growth Hormone and Syndrome X.- 16 Interactions Between Growth Hormone Secretion and Sleep.- 17 Growth Hormone in AIDS.- 18 Clinical and Physiological Studies with Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone.- 19 Clinical Use of Growth Hormone Secretagogues.