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Pituitary somatotroph
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The somatotroph is one of the five kinds of endocrine cells, that is, hormone producing cells, in the anterior pituitary. Its product is growth hormone, also called somatotropin.
Under the microscope it is acidophilic: it takes up acid dyes. And it does not work alone: it has three main regulators. Growth hormone releasing hormone, which comes from the hypothalamus, stimulates it. Somatostatin blunts its response to that hormone. And ghrelin also stimulates it. It is a faucet with one handle that opens it, another that closes it, and a third that opens it again.
And insulin like growth factor 1 also acts on the cell: it slows the hormone's release in the somatotroph itself.
In brief
The somatotroph is one of the five endocrine cell types of the anterior pituitary, and it makes growth hormone, or somatotropin.
It is acidophilic, and it has three main regulators: growth hormone releasing hormone from the hypothalamus stimulates it, somatostatin blunts its response to that hormone, and ghrelin also stimulates it.
It is a faucet with one handle that opens it, another that closes it, and a third that opens it again.
Insulin like growth factor 1 directly inhibits growth hormone release in the somatotroph.
Sources (2)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingPhysiology, Pituitary Hormones, StatPearlsPublished
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingPhysiology, Growth Hormone, StatPearlsPublished
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