BGHO: Bovine Growth Hormone Online
Bovine somatotropin (bST), or bovine growth hormone (BGH), is a specific type
of growth hormone that is primarily released by the anterior pituitary gland of
cattle. In addition to regulating somatic growth, bGH also influences the amount
of milk produced by a dairy cow. Recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), also
known as rBST is a synthetic version of BGH that is injected into a cow to
artificially maintain her milk production.
Semantics and abbreviations
Somatotropin (ST) is a protein hormone produced in the pituitary gland of all
vertebrates , including cattle. Bovine somatotropin is abbreviated bST or BST.
It is also called bovine growth hormone, or BGH.
BST can be produced synthetically, using recombinant DNA technology. This is
called "recombinant bovine somatotropin" rBST or "recombinant bovine growth
hormone" rBGH. The current tradename of rBST produced by Monsanto is Posilac .
For consistency, this article will use BST or rBST when possible.
Human growth hormone is abbreviated hGH or HGH. The word somatropin refers to
synthetically produced human growth hormone, rHGH.
