what would happen if HGH is injected into a midget?
January 20th, 2010
I was reading AP Bio and it dawned on me, what would happen if someone were to inject HGH (human growth hormone) into a midget? Would he or she regain height or remain the same?
Human growth hormone or somatostatin only causes height increase if the growth plates in juvenile bones are still open and able to grow. If someone reaches skeletal maturity and their growth plates are fused, you can administer HGH but all you will do is give them symptoms of acromegaly, a condition caused by over secretion of HGH from the pituitary. If the bones can’t grow, they won’t get any taller.
they’d be a buff midget
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HGH is A.K.A. a steroid. They’d have to workout, and then they would see results. Not in height, but in body mass. Then again, HGH does have some strange side effects, such as abnormal hair growth.
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I suppose you are referring to small statured persons, most medical personnel would refer to it as dwarfism, of which there are over 200 types, vanishingly few of which, if any, respond to human growth hormone.
Most likely, nothing, the metabolic defect in most dwarfs is not responsive to that.
Try another tack.
References :
Human growth hormone or somatostatin only causes height increase if the growth plates in juvenile bones are still open and able to grow. If someone reaches skeletal maturity and their growth plates are fused, you can administer HGH but all you will do is give them symptoms of acromegaly, a condition caused by over secretion of HGH from the pituitary. If the bones can’t grow, they won’t get any taller.
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Physician