HGH STATUS, COST OF HGH INJECTIONS UNITED STATES

I bet you werent expecting to read about sea cucumbers when clicking on a hormone blog, did you? Surprise! That is what this article is all about...sort of. Actually, well be exploring the ancient origins of our endocrine system and its evolutionary history which just so happens to be traced back to sea cucumbers. Neat, huh? Lets begin on our journey through time

Proteins Essential for Reproduction, Metabolism and Immunity Traced Back to Sea Cucumbers

We love to study evolution and understand how we got to where we are today in terms of our genetics, our technology, our cultural history, etc. Scientists from the Marine Science and Technology College in China decided to pursue a study investigating the evolutionary history of our endocrine (hormone) system. They found that a key set of proteins that aid in hormone regulation and are necessary for many, many essential functions in humans as well as other vertebrates have origins that can be traced back to more primitive creatures: sea cucumbers. Who would have thought?

The group of proteins that they focused on are part of a system called the kisspeptin system. The kisspeptin system controls hormones that are released by the three main endocrine glands of the human body: the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland and the sex organs of both men (testicles) and women (ovaries). These three endocrine glands regulate major processes including reproduction, the immune system, metabolism and more. Lets delve into these organs a bit further

The Basics of the Endocrine System

The endocrine, or hormone system, is a collection of glands or organs that produce hormones. There are other glands involved besides the three previously mentioned, including the thyroid gland and adrenal glands. The word endocrine is derived from the Greek words endo, which means within and crinis which means to secrete. Basically, a gland selectively uptakes materials from the blood, processes them and secretes a finished biochemical product (hormone, protein, enzyme) for use in other areas of the body. Our endocrine system is so important because it acts on almost every organ and cell in our bodies.

Each type of hormone, such as growth hormone or estrogen, circulates through the bloodstream to targeted organs and tissues. Once the hormone reaches its destination, it will begin a chain reaction within the cell such as the production of sperm or the breakdown of fat for energy use. Basically, hormones is what keeps our bodies running efficiently, or running at all, really.

Hypothalamus: The hypothalamus is a small section in the center of the brain with the main role of keeping the body and/or endocrine system in homeostasis (or balance) as much as possible. Quite the job!

The hypothalamus is basically the connector between the endocrine system and the nervous system. Because of this connection, it plays a part in functions such as body temperature, appetite/hunger, emotions, sleep, blood pressure, balance of bodily fluids, etc. As different parts of the body send signals to the brain, they are telling the hypothalamus about any unbalanced factors that need to be fixed. For example, if the internal temperature is too high, the hypothalamus tells the body to start sweating.

Pituitary Gland: The pituitary gland actually sits underneath the brain, at the base of the skull in a bony hollow, connected to the hypothalamus and is considered the master gland. Even though it is the master gland, regulates several vital functions and controls the activity of other glands, it is only the size of a pea. The anterior portion is connected to the brain by blood vessels and the posterior portion is actually a part of the brain and secretes hormones directly into the bloodstream.

Most of the time, the hypothalamus acts on the pituitary gland first and stimulates it to release the hormones that the body needs, but not with every hormone. The pituitary gland secretes a variety of hormones including prolactin (induces milk production in the breasts), growth hormone (regulates growth, metabolism and body composition), leuteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH for sex hormone production and other activities in the sex organs) and thyroid stimulating hormone (stimulates thyroid gland to secrete thyroid hormones).

Sex Organs The sex organs are comprised of the testicles in men and the ovaries in women. They both are able to secrete their own hormones, such as testosterone and estrogen. The secretion of these hormones stimulates processes such as puberty, egg maturation and sperm production.

Evolutionary Origins of Kisspeptin Proteins

Now that you know a bit more about the endocrine system and the major trio composing the kisspeptin system (hypothalamus, pituitary gland and sex organs) we can delve into the evolutionary origins of them.

Lead author, Tianming Wang, stated, The origins of these proteins have previously been traced to very simple creatures with spinal cords, but it hadnt been traced back any further. This raises an important question: does the kisspeptin system have an ancient evolutionary origin, or did it first emerge in animals with spinal cords?

Wang and his team wanted to answer this question. To do so, they looked for kisspeptin system genes in the sea cucumber. Sea cucumbers are very simple creatures that have no spinal cord. The scientists actually were able to identify equivalents of the kisspeptin genes in the squishy little creatures.

Next on the scientists agenda was to administer kisspeptin-like cucumber proteins into mammal cells to see what would happen. This caused the mammal cells to secrete calcium, which is similar to how human versions of the protein would behave. These sea cucumber proteins were able to interact with receptors in human cells as well. This finding suggests that not much has changed in these proteins over the course of years of evolution.

The scientists final phase of experiments consisted of activating or blocking the signaling system in sea cucumbers. By blocking these proteins from being produced, it became clear that they are critical for such important functions as reproduction and metabolism in the sea cucumbers.

Endocrine System Predates Evolution of Spinal Cord

The senior author of the study, Naiming Zhou, says that their experiments suggest that the kisspeptin system actually predates the evolution of the spinal cord in animals and would also be present in other animals that are closely related to the sea cucumber.

Zhou states, Our findings indicate the existence of a kisspeptin signaling system in a very simple organism lacking a spinal cord. They provide new evidence to support the ancient evolutionary origin of the physiological functions in vertebrates that are controlled by the kisspeptin system.

There you have it, folks. Our hormones and endocrine system can be traced all the way back to primitive sea creatures. Fascinating, indeed. Continue to follow our blog for more interesting and up-to-date hormone news!

Reference

Science Magazine

If you’re on the fence about human growth hormone therapy because of the idea of daily injections, then we have great news for you! Novo Nordisk has developed a weekly injection treatment program that is just as effective as the daily injections, greatly reducing treatment burden for adult patients with HGH deficiency. Most people hate the idea of needles but add to that the daily use of needles – ugh, what a drag. Only having to inject once a week is much easier to handle for most people.

The key to the once-weekly HGH treatment protocol is a newly-developed HGH derivative that is long-acting, called somapacitan. When somapacitan was compared to the standard daily HGH injections, the benefits were still the same, as published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. For example, long-acting HGH sompacitan was shown to improve truncal and visceral fat and lean body mass in a similar capacity as daily growth hormone treatment in adult patients.

Researcher Gudmundur Johannsson, MD, PhD, stated, “The improvements were maintained at 86 weeks and treatment was well tolerated, with no unexpected safety concerns. Somapacitan may provide an alternative to daily GH treatment for adults with GH deficiency, with the need for less-frequent injections expected to reduce burden of treatment and cause less interference with daily life.”

Improve Body Composition with Somapacitan

Now, down to the nitty-gritty of the research. In this trial, that spanned across 17 countries (!), the scientists analyzed data from 301 adults that were diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency, either as adults or children. Each patient was randomly assigned either once-weekly somapacitan, daily HGH or once-weekly placebo for 34 weeks total. After the 34 weeks, there was an “open-label” 52 week extension period were 272 of the patients opted to continue treatment with somapacitan or daily HGH injections. Those receiving the placebo were switched to somapacitan and patients who were on the daily HGH were randomly assigned to continue daily HGH or switch to somapacitan.

The data collected focused on body composition parameters. Measurements were taken at baseline (beginning of trial) and at the end of each treatment period.

As for the results, after 34 weeks, it was found that the patients who were on somapacitan experienced a mean 1.06% reduction in truncal fat (abdominal fat) compared to a 0.47% increase in the placebo group. In addition, those who were on somapacitan also showed improvements in visceral fat (fat around the organs in the abdominal area), lean body mass and IGF-1 levels. The improvements in body composition were maintained at the end of the extension period for both groups who were not on the placebo. No adverse side effects were reported.

Daily HGH Injections are a Barrier for Many Patients

HGH deficiency is a chronic condition, affecting millions of adult men and women across the United States every year. The need for treatment is on the rise. Johannsson knows that having to inject GH every day is a burden to many patients and many patients do not stay on track with their injection protocol, leading to issues.

“A once-weekly GH treatment alternative could reduce the burden of treatment, leading to improved adherence and may lower the barrier to initiating and continuing replacement therapy.”

More studies are being conducted to ensure the efficacy and safety of somapacitan, including trials with children who suffer from GH deficiency or idiopathic short stature. Stay tuned for further news regarding somapacitan and the roll-out of weekly HGH injections on the market.

Reference

Healio

Micropollutants are a major global health issue. We are constantly bombarded by Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals, synthetic hormones, and microplastics that can potentially impair hormone balance and physiological function. Even drinking water isn't safe, especially in particularly vulnerable areas. While technology is highly effective at removing traditional pollution from the water supply, it's much more challenging to remove micropollutants at a large scale.

Luckily, advances are being made. German researchers working from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology have designed a chemical means to affordably break down hormones in drinking water. This process uses photocatalysis to dissolve hormones into byproducts that are harmless to humans. This research was released in the academic journal Applied Catalysis B: Environmental.

It is a complex task to maximize the safety of our drinking water. It takes a variety of methods to filter pollutants out of the water. Hormones, pesticides, and prescription drugs enter our water supply from various inputs, and all have to be dealt with in their own way. As our filtration methods improve, we can target nanoparticles. Despite their diminutive size, these chemicals can still harm society at large.

Filtering Hormones Protects the Environment and Improves Our Health

Using Chemistry to Clean Our Water

Current technologies do not meet EU goals for the filtration and removal of micropollutants, which is why research and development are necessary. Scientists from KIT's Institute for Advanced Membrane Technology and the Institute of Microstructure Technology are working together to develop new effective methods to improve the quality of water purification at a commercial scale.

The process that they've designed is promising. They coated a pored filtration system with a chemical that is sensitive to light, called Pd(II)-porphyrin. This molecule absorbs radiation from light and releases dioxin (also known as singlet oxygen) in response.

Dioxin has powerful oxidative properties, making it incredibly effective at targeting and removing organic molecules from water even at very low concentrations. It's possible to greatly reduce Testosterone, Estrogen, and other hormones from drinking water by passing it through a filtration system coated with this molecule.

New Process Very Successful at Removing Estradiol from Water Supply

Currently, the European Union wants to see Estradiol Levels in drinking water no greater than 1 ng/L. This filtration method was capable of very nearly reaching that goal. The filtration process reduced Estradiol concentrations from 100 ng/L to 2 ng/L and could clear up to 600 liters per hour with each square meter of the chemically treated material. Researchers believe they can optimize the process for both scale and effectiveness to meet EU goals.