I have been Professor of Human Physiology, School of Medicine of Santiago de Compostela; specialist in Endocrinology. Currently, I am the Scientific Director of Foundation Foltra and Professor Ad Honorem of the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Qualified Deputy in Advanced Therapies. I got 27 Awards for research, and I have been invited to give 96 lectures in Universities around the world and in International congresses.
Wound healing is complex and numerous factors overlap perfectly with the goal of wound closure. Among them, we will focus on a large amount of experimental and clinical evidence on the action of GH in wound repair. We will analyze how the physiological rhythm of GH secretion influences this process, and also one of the most important signaling pathways that mediate the effects of GH on tissue regeneration. The role of IGF-1 and the factors that stimulate GH secretion and that have also been shown to improve healing will also be reviewed. In addition, it will be analyzed the cellular senescence process, which plays a key role in nonhealing wounds associated with chronic diseases. The benefit of GH in this last circumstance is especially important. The lesions associated with catabolic states, mainly burns, are considered a delicate situation in which it is extraordinarily difficult to act with growth factors due to the fragile situation of these patients, often children. The positive action of GH in these states will also be described. In summary, we will analyze many evidences about the beneficial effects of GH and its main secretagogues in the healing of wounds.
Part of the book: Wound Healing
As stated in the first part of this review, growth hormone (GH) acts on all organs and tissues, and untreated GH-deficient (GHD) patients suffer from several affectations occurring as a consequence of the lack of this key hormone. In the second part of this review, we will analyze the effects of GH on the liver, the kidney, the adrenal glands, the skeletal muscles, the bones, the hematopoietic system, the gastrointestinal system, and the adverse effects that may occur in these organs and systems in the GH deficiency not treated in children and adults. Apart from these, we conclude that GH is a co-hormone that seems to be necessary for the physiological actions of other important hormones in humans.
Part of the book: Growth Disorders and Acromegaly
The concept that the growth hormone (GH) is a merely metabolic pituitary hormone with effects on the longitudinal growth of the organism until the end of puberty has been questioned in recent years. We know today that the expression of GH also occurs in virtually all organs and tissues where it performs very important autocrine/paracrine and even intracrine functions. GH acts on all organs and tissues, being particularly important in the development of the brain during the fetal period. In addition, the hormone, after interacting with its membrane receptor, is internalized together with its receptor, allowing it to reach the cell nucleus where it acts as a transcription factor. In the first part of this review, we will analyze the effects of GH on the brain, the cardiovascular system, and the gonadal system, as well as the adverse effects that occur in the GH deficiency not treated in children and adults. GH is absolutely necessary for a normal brain development and also for repairing the nervous system after an injury. Moreover, GH plays a very important role in the cardiovascular system, as well as in normal gonadal functioning.
Part of the book: Growth Disorders and Acromegaly