THE GROWTH-HORMONE RECEPTOR DURING DEVELOPMENT

Growth hormone (GH) is a major regulator of postnatal growth and the c ellular action of GH is initiated by binding to a membrane bound recep tor. During recent years progress has been made towards a deeper under standing of the GH receptor. The structure of the GH receptor is now k nown from several species and components involved in an intracellular signal transduction pathway elicited by GH are begun to be studied. Th e GH is receptor is distributed to a variety of different tissues refl ecting a concept that GH has a multitude of different functions in the body. In addition. the GH receptor level critically depends on the de velopmental stage. This review provides a brief disclosure on the stru cture, function and location of the GH receptor and discusses the sign ificance of developmentally regulated receptor expression.