THE CELLULAR AND MOLECULAR BASIS FOR GROWTH HORMONE ACTION ON THE HEART

Despite a series of elegant studies perfonned by Beznak in the fifties clearly demonstrating Growth Honnone (GH)'s role in maintaining a nonnal hypertrophic response following experimental aortic constriction (1-3), the cardiovascular role of the GHlIGF-1 axis was largely overlooked. In fact, until few years ago, GH was classically regarded as the principal mediator of bone linear growth, in addition to its well known actions on glucose homeostasis and skeletal muscle mass, and the heart was not generally considered as a target tissue (4). It is now well established that not only does GH play an essential role in maintaining a nonnal cardiac muscle mass and function, but also that its growth-promoting and positive inotropic actions may be beneficial in the setting of heart failure and ischemic syndromes.