Articles Human Growth Hormone Testing

Human growth hormone is produced by pituitary gland. It is protein which is responsible for many body functions. Sometime human growth hormone level falls down which leads to many disorders. Several tests have been conducted to know the exact level of human growth hormone in human body. These tests include :
- Somatotropin hormone test
- Growth hormone suppression test
- Somatomedin C
- Growth hormone stimulation test
By conducting these tests, one can find growth deficiencies and problems with pituitary gland functioning as well. We discuss all these tests in details.
Somatotropin test
This test is conducted to find human growth hormone deficiency as well as excess. For accurate readings blood sample is taken after one hour of good sleep. The normal results of tests are
- For men 5 ng/ml
- For women less than 10ng/ml
- For children 10 ng/ml
- In new born babies 10-40 ng/ml
Somatomedin C test
To indicate the accurate human growth hormone level in blood, this test is conducted. Somatomedin or insulin is good indicator of human growth level in blood. Following are the normal results for the Somatomedin C test
- For adult - 42-110 ng/ml
- For girls -
- - For age group 0-8 7-110 ng/ml
- - For age group 9-10 39-186 ng/ml
- - For age group 11-13 66-215 ng/ml
- For boys -
- - For age group 0-8 4-87 ng/ml
- - For age group 9-10 26-98 ng/ml
- - For age group 11-13 44-207 ng/ml
If actual readings exceed the normal results, then it is indication of gigantism and acromegaly
Growth hormone stimulation test
In growth hormone stimulation test, body's ability to produce human growth hormone is tested. During this test, insulin is injected in the body. And then, frequent blood samples are taken. Human growth hormone releasing factor is used in the test to stimulate the human growth hormone.This test gives correct results which can be helpful to indicate human growth hormone deficiency. 10 ng/ml is the normal test result for the human growth hormone stimulation test. However, if result shows lower than normal test result then that shows disorder in pituitary gland function
Growth hormone suppression test
Growth hormone suppression test is conducted to evaluate the excess baseline level of human growth level. In this test, glucose is injected into your body. Two blood samples are taken for test. Of which, first one is taken before loading glucose while second samples is taken two hours after loading glucose. As substance used in this test is glucose, it is also called glucose loading test. 3 ng/ml is normal test result for suppressed human growth hormone level while 5 ng/ml indicates acromegaly syndrome.