Growth hormone in the context of "Recombinant DNA"

An agrochemical or agrichemical, a contraction of agricultural chemical, is a chemical product used in conventional or industrial agriculture. Agrochemical typically refers to pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. The term agrochemical is sometimes used informally synonymously with pesticides, sometimes also informally to mean pesticides and fertilizers, and sometimes more correctly to include all chemicals used in agriculture. Other chemicals used in agriculture are plant hormones and plant growth regulators (PGRs), insect attractants, insect repellents, plant defense inducers, herbicide safeners, adjuvents and co-formulants, soil conditioners and soil amendments, liming and acidifying agents. For livestock feed additives, animal growth regulators, anthelmintics and other antiparasitics are used.

Robert Pershing Wadlow (February 22, 1918 – July 15, 1940), also known as the Alton Giant and the Giant of Illinois, was an American man. He is the tallest person in recorded history for whom there is irrefutable evidence. Wadlow was born and raised in Alton, Illinois, a small city near St. Louis, Missouri.

Wadlow's height was 8 ft 11.1 in (2.72 m) while his weight reached 439 lb (199 kg) at his death at age 22. His great size and his continued growth in adulthood were due to hypertrophy of his pituitary gland, which results in an abnormally high level of human growth hormone (HGH).

AquAdvantage salmon is a genetically engineered (GE) fish, a GE Atlantic salmon developed by AquaBounty Technologies in 1989. The typical growth hormone-regulating gene in the Atlantic salmon was replaced with the growth hormone-regulating gene from Pacific Chinook salmon, with a promoter sequence from ocean pout. This gene enables GM salmon to grow year-round instead of only during spring and summer.

These GE salmon are a commercially competitive alternative to wild-caught salmon and to fish farming of unmodified salmon. The purpose of the modifications is to increase the speed at which the fish grows without affecting its ultimate size or other qualities. Fish-farmed Atlantic salmon growth rates have already been improved over wild fish as a result of traditional selective breeding practices. However, GM fish are able to grow even faster and grow to market size in just 16 to 18 months rather than three years.

The endocrine system is a messenger system in an organism comprising feedback loops of hormones that are released by internal glands directly into the circulatory system and that target and regulate distant organs. In vertebrates, the hypothalamus is the neural control center for all endocrine systems.

In humans, the major endocrine glands are the thyroid, parathyroid, pituitary, pineal, and adrenal glands, and the (male) testis and (female) ovaries. The hypothalamus, pancreas, and thymus also function as endocrine glands, among other functions. (The hypothalamus and pituitary glands are organs of the neuroendocrine system. One of the most important functions of the hypothalamus—it is located in the brain adjacent to the pituitary gland—is to link the endocrine system to the nervous system via the pituitary gland.) Other organs, such as the kidneys, also have roles within the endocrine system by secreting certain hormones. The study of the endocrine system and its disorders is known as endocrinology.The thyroid secretes thyroxine, the pituitary secretes growth hormone, the pineal secretes melatonin, the testis secretes testosterone, and the ovaries secrete estrogen and progesterone.

The breasts are two prominences located on the upper ventral region of the torso among humans and other primates. Both sexes develop breasts from the same embryological tissues. The relative size and development of the breasts is a major secondary sex distinction between females and males. There is also considerable variation in size between individuals. Permanent breast growth during puberty is caused by estrogens in conjunction with the growth hormone. Female humans are the only mammals that permanently develop breasts at puberty; all other mammals develop their mammary tissue during the latter period of pregnancy.

In females, the breast serves as the mammary gland, which produces and secretes milk to feed infants. Subcutaneous fat covers and envelops a network of ducts that converge on the nipple, and these tissues give the breast its distinct size and globular shape. At the ends of the ducts are lobules, or clusters of alveoli, where milk is produced and stored in response to hormonal signals. During pregnancy, the breast responds to a complex interaction of hormones, including estrogens, progesterone, and prolactin, that mediate the completion of its development, namely lobuloalveolar maturation, in preparation of lactation and breastfeeding.

Ghrelin (/ˈɡrɛlɪn/; or lenomorelin, INN) is a hormone primarily produced by enteroendocrine cells of the gastrointestinal tract, especially the stomach, and is also dubbed the "hunger hormone" because it increases the drive to eat. Blood levels of ghrelin are highest before meals when hungry, returning to lower levels after mealtimes. Ghrelin may help prepare for food intake by increasing gastric motility and stimulating the secretion of gastric acid.

Ghrelin activates cells in the anterior pituitary gland and hypothalamic arcuate nucleus, including neuropeptide Y neurons that initiate appetite. Ghrelin stimulates brain structures having a specific receptor – the growth hormone secretagogue receptor 1A (GHSR-1A). Ghrelin also participates in regulation of reward cognition, learning and memory, the sleep-wake cycle, taste sensation, reward behavior, and glucose metabolism.