Glossary
Secretagogue
Also called Growth hormone secretagogue, GHS, GH secretagogue
Anything that makes a gland secrete a hormone. In peptide talk it almost always means a growth hormone secretagogue: a compound that prompts your own pituitary to release growth hormone.
In more detail
The term covers both GHRH analogs and GHRP style ghrelin mimetics, plus non-peptide oral compounds that act on the ghrelin receptor.
The pitch for secretagogues over direct growth hormone is that they work through the body's own release pattern. How much that matters for results has limited human data for most research compounds.
Why it matters
"secretagogue" on a label tells you the compound depends on your own pituitary response, which varies with age and dosing pattern.
Related terms
- GHRHThe hormone from the hypothalamus that tells the pituitary to release growth hormone. Sermorelin, tesamorelin and CJC-1295 are GHRH analogs.
- GHRPA family of small synthetic peptides that trigger growth hormone release through the ghrelin receptor. GHRP-2, GHRP-6 and ipamorelin are examples.
- CycleA set period of taking a compound, usually followed by a planned break. A protocol might say 8 to 12 weeks on, 4 weeks off.
Peptides where this comes up
Sources
Each source is labeled by where the information comes from. How we label sources
- Reference workGrowth hormone secretagogue(opens in a new tab)
Wikipedia · checked
- Clinical studyRaun K et al. 1998, Ipamorelin, the first selective growth hormone secretagogue, Eur J Endocrinol(opens in a new tab)
PubMed · checked
Updated