Abstract
Publisher Summary The participation of the pituitary gland in the regulation of body growth was implicated a number of years ago on the basis of clinical observations. Thus, on the basis of pathological findings, acromegaly and dwarfism have been attributed to a hyperfunction and hypofunction of the anterior pituitary gland, respectively. The first experimental evidence for this pituitary function was provided by the classical studies of Aschner, who produced dwarfism by the removal of the pituitary gland from puppies. This observation was subsequently confirmed and extended in tadpoles and rats. A further great advance in relating the pituitary gland to growth was attained by Evans and Long, who produced gigantism in normal rats by long-continued daily administration of saline extracts of ox anterior pituitary. These findings were further advanced by Smith, who showed that the impairment of growth in hypophysectomized animals could be rectified by daily implants of the anterior pituitary or pituitary extracts. In the chapter, the effects of growth hormone on protein, fat, and carbohydrate metabolism are reviewed and the physiological significance of the interrelationship of these effects is discussed.
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