Growth-hormone-releasing peptides (GHRP class) — reference

Growth-hormone-releasing peptides (GHRP class): ghrelin receptor agonists (research use only), approximate mass Varies by member (GHRP-2 817.0 Da; GHRP-6 ≈ 873.0 Da), Minutes to tens of minutes half-life. Identity, evidence base, analytical considerations and limitations.

Scope

A maintained identity and evidence reference for Growth-hormone-releasing peptides (GHRP class). It is deliberately narrow: what the molecule is, what has been published about it, and what an analytical report on it can and cannot establish. It contains no dosing recommendations and is not advice about anyone's care.

Where a figure is approximate this page says so. Where something is unknown, it says that instead of filling the gap.

Identity

Masses quoted here are approximate and are given for orientation when reading an analytical report. For a mass-error calculation, use the exact monoisotopic mass computed from the elemental composition rather than a rounded figure from a reference page, including this one.

What it is

These are secretagogues: they act on the ghrelin receptor to provoke endogenous growth hormone release rather than supplying growth hormone. That distinction determines almost everything about how their effects should be interpreted.

Because secretion is pulsatile, a single post-dose growth hormone measurement is close to uninterpretable. Assessing this class properly requires serial sampling or an integrated measure, and almost nothing circulating online does either.

Evidence base

Published studies and programmes most relevant to this compound:

• Small pharmacology studies; no large outcome trials

IGF-1 is used as an integrated surrogate. It is a better measure than a spot growth hormone level and it is still a surrogate, with all the usual caveats about surrogates.

Appetite stimulation is a consistent and predictable effect of ghrelin receptor agonism, which makes this class an odd companion to compounds whose purpose is appetite suppression.

Individual digests for several of these are maintained separately in this commons and are linked from the evidence category. A digest is a summary with its criticisms attached; it is not a substitute for reading the paper.

Analytical considerations

The usual analytical approach depends on whether the molecule is a peptide; where it is not, peptide conventions do not transfer. A purity figure is an area percentage at a stated wavelength under a stated gradient, and it is not interchangeable with a content determination.

Three things a purity assay on this compound will not tell you: how much peptide is in the container (that requires a content assay), what the counter-ion is (that requires ion chromatography or NMR), and whether anything is present that does not elute under the method used.

See Reversed-phase HPLC for peptides and LC-MS identity confirmation for the method detail.

Status and legality

Research use only in most jurisdictions.

Material sold as research-use-only is not a licensed medicine, whatever it contains and however good its certificate is. That is a statement about regulatory status rather than about quality, and it is true of high-purity material as much as of poor material.

Limitations of this page

This is a reference page maintained by volunteers, reviewed on the date shown, and it will be out of date at some point after that date. It summarises published work rather than reproducing it, and a summary always loses something. Where the summary and the source disagree, the source is right.

If you find an error, the fastest route to fixing it is a topic in doc review naming the sentence and the source. The maintainers named above are notified.