The cow's naturally occurring growth hormone, somatotropin, was first discovered in the 1920s.
Safety of milk from cows treated with bovine somatotropin.
Human growth hormone (hGH) (somatotropin) is produced by somatotropes in the anterior pituitary gland.
Somatotropin (hGH) is secreted by somatotropes in the anterior pituitary gland.
The somatotropin test also aids in documenting the excess hGH production responsible for gigantism or acromegaly, and confirms underactivity or overproduction of the pituitary gland (hypopituitarism or hyperpituitarism, respectively).