1. MAKE A LOGBOOK ENTRY TITLED “GROWTH HORMONE NETWORK”
Read the short story about Robert Pershing Wadlow
Make a table to record important information about his life:
Age
Height/Weight
Symptoms

2. High school graduation

3. Growth chart Age Height 5 8 9 10 12 14 16 18 20 21 22 5’4’’ 6’ 6’2’’
6’5’’
6’11’’
7’5’’
7’10’’
8’4’’
8’7’’
8’8’’
8’11.1’’

9. GHRH Hypothalamus (blood) Bones & Muscles Stomach Pituitary Gland
Liver
Bones &
Muscles
Hypothalamus
HORMONE #1
GHRH
HORMONE #2
(blood)

10. GHRH Hypothalamus (blood) + Bones & Muscles Stomach Pituitary Gland
Liver
Bones &
Muscles
Hypothalamus
HORMONE #1
GHRH
HORMONE #2
(blood) +

11. GH SS IGF-1 glucose GHRH Ghrelin Increase growth Hypothalamus (blood)
Pituitary Gland GH
Stomach
Ghrelin
Liver
IGF-1
Bones &
Muscles
Hypothalamus
HORMONE #1
GHRH
HORMONE #2 SS
(blood)
glucose
Increase
growth + -

12. You read a story about Robert Wadlow, a famous person with a disease known as gigantism. List several possible defects in the hormone system regulating growth that could cause gigantism. (Note: be sure to consider decreased negative signals as well as increased positive signals).
overproduction of GHRH, ghrelin, GH, or IGF-1
lack of somatostatin (SS)
lack of receptors for GH on pituitary or hypothalamus

13. 2. How do the stomach and the amount of glucose in the blood contribute to the regulation of growth? Why does it make sense that your nutrition affects whether your body signals itself to grow or not?
If your body is starving, it won’t have as much glucose, and your stomach won’t produce much ghrelin. If you are starving, it makes sense that for your body to conserve it’s limited calories and not grow. You’d want to use the limited calories to stay alive, not add new growth. Larger bodies also take more energy to sustain.

14. 3. Notice how the growth hormone released by the pituitary acts back on the pituitary itself. How does this feedback help to control the amount of growth hormone in the blood?
It help keeps the GH within a range and keeps it from getting too high. If there’s too much, there will be a lot of the signal to decrease its own production. If there isn’t much, then the signal to decrease won’t be very strong, and more can be produced if it is needed.

15. Abnormally high production of Somatostatin (SS):
dwarfism
Abnormally low production of Somatostatin (SS):
gigantism
Abnormally low production of Ghrelin:
Lack of receptors for Growth Hormone on liver:
Lack of receptors for Growth Hormone on hypothalamus:
Lack of receptors for Somatostatin (SS) on Pituitary gland: