O papel do hormônio do crescimento no desenvolvimento muscular: uma revisão de literatura

Introduction and objective: Growth hormone (GH) is a simple polypeptide whose function is to promote the growth of bones, tissues, organs, and muscles. It performs a large part of its functions through insulin-like growth factors (IGFs), also known as somatomedins. The present study aimed to review publications regarding the influence of GH on muscle development.

Materials and methods

This review consists of textbooks and articles published in the PUBMED database. The keywords used for the search and selection of articles were: “Growth hormone”, “Insulin-like growth factor”, “GH”, “IGF-1”, “Hypertrophy”, and “Muscle development”. Discussion and results: GH is shown to be fundamental in the process of muscle development through its direct action or indirectly via IGF-1 by stimulating satellite cells, which provide additional nuclei to the sarcomeres of muscle cells.