Human Growth Hormone - Somatropin

Synthetic Growth hormone (HGH) is called somatropin (British: somatrophin). hGH refers to human growth hormone and is an abbreviation for human GH (Somatotropin) extracted from human pituitary glands. In 1985, biosynthetic human growth hormone replaced pituitary-derived HGH for therapeutic use in the U.S. and elsewhere. Biosynthetic human growth hormone, also referred to as recombinant growth hormone, is also called somatropin and abbreviated as rhGH. Since the mid-1990s the abbreviation HGH has begun to carry paradoxical connotations, and now rarely refers to real GH used for indicated purposes. See articles on GH treatment and hGH quackery for fuller discussions of GH therapy and the HGH issue.