GH/IGF and child linear bone growth?

[powerliftmike]

For short children, GH is often perscribed in the hope of increasing height, before the final stages of puberty when the growth plates close. Could IGF do this, specifically LR3 IGF-I, or is this a direct effect of GH and not its conversion factors?

[supersteve]

They both do it.
GH is usually slightly better (i.e. 1-2cm extra over 12 months) though because it has it's own receptor sites to bind to in addition to the igf-1 receptor sites at the epiphyseal growth cartilage.
And it's usually not used during the late stages of puberty, it's used before puberty, as you get older it gets less effective.
No test have ever actually used lr3 for this purpose. They've used regular igf-1, but in insane doses pumped intravenously.

If your epiphyses haven't fully fused then you want the process of chrondogenesis to outdo that of ossification. High estrogen = increased ossification. Aromasin or letrozole wold be better and much cheaper options than lr3igf-1 for this purpose. To highlight this, there was a 27 year old guy who had unfused epiphyses (due to an aromatase deficiency) and was extremely tall (like 7 foot) despite his gh/igf-1 levels being normal.

[powerliftmike]

thanks supersteve

[Slic4788]

yah, but remember GH/IGF-1 doesn't increase final height. Meaning all those kids with GHD could have gotten at their final height in a few years and would slowly grow without any gh shots. They just use it so the short kids don't get 'bullied'.

it doesn't increase height, you just get there faster.