Disclaimer: This is for the purpose of education only. Don’t try to self supplement or self medicate.
Introduction
Basic biochemical principles of peptides are reviewed.
And the biochemistry of the matter points up the great safety and value of peptide up regulation of growth hormone (GH) over exogenous hormone because of necessarily long term desires for increased GH.
Discussion of Peptides
Structurally, peptides are under 50 amino acids long. 5200 amino acids is called a polypeptide. Over 100 amino acids is called a protein.
Peptides are in all cells, synthesized by ribosomes through a process called translation, their sequences coded by mRNA. Their synthesis is regulated by hormones and signaling agents. Probably one of the most important signaling agents is growth hormone (GH) itself, also known as somatotropin.
The body combines peptides, making enzymes. The body also uses peptides for making receptors.
Aging depletes GH, both at a cellular level as well as at a systemic level (pulsed 9–10x/day; peptide supplementation ups that pulsing btw without adversely affecting GH feedback loop mechanisms the way exogenous GH does).
Everything GH does suffers from aging as a result: body composition (body fat, lean mass); sleep cycle (primarily state 3 = slow wave sleep – during which the greatest amount of GH is pulsed); bone density and muscle mass; immune function; sexual function; mood, memory, and cognition; cardio endurance, energy utilization, exercise capacity; and glucose utilization.
Understandably, exogenous GH excesses would conversely inhibit healthy feedback loops leading to alters GH production syndromes like acromegaly, hypertension, diabetes, cardiomyopathy, and cancer.
The anabolic state that up regulating GH produces has been shown in muscle and non-muscle tissue.
The muscle effects of GH are well documented. There, GH promotes increased mitochondrial oxidative capacity and up regulates multiple mitochondrial genes that up mitochondrial potential and production. These genes up regulate tissue IGF-1, mitochondrial proteins from the nuclear (cytochrome c oxidase subunit four) and mitochondrial (cytochrome c oxidase subunit three) genomes, the nuclear-derived mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) – all leading to mitochondrial biogenesis – and glucose transporter – reducing insulin resistance.
There, GH also up regulates PGC-1a, key regulator of muscle mitochondrial biogenesis. The PGC-1a transcriptional pathway leads downstream to increases in COX3, COX4, TFAM, and GLUT4 mRNA during GH pulsing. So there’s anabolic effects to the body making its own GH in the muscle.
Non-muscle tissues, short term augmentation of GH production also leads to protein metabolism, so is thus not catabolic there either. Bottom line, you hold onto your amino acids; you don’t lose muscle mass. Indices of protein synthesis – like increased nonoxidative leucine disposal and thus a reduced rate of leucine appearance so less protein breakdown – confirm this.
Exogenous GH excesses and abuses (long term exogenous): bad. Bad because this care is going to have to be long for most repairs (8-12 months), then longer still, if you want to buy long term anti-aging and or disease prevention, thus requiring years in terms of maintenance plan.
Intrinsic feedback loop mechanisms are going to have to corrupted with such long term use, leading to every major disease group and aging process that the GH was supposed to prevent or rejuvenate, respectively.
GH action: good. The action is that it promotes increased mitochondrial oxidative capacity and up regulates multiple mitochondrial genes that up mitochondrial potential and production. These genes up regulate tissue IGF-1, mitochondrial proteins from the nuclear (cytochrome c oxidase subunit four) and mitochondrial (cytochrome c oxidase subunit three) genomes, the nuclear derived mitochondrial transcription factor a (TFAM) – all leading to mitochondrial biogenesis – and glucose transporter – reducing insulin resistance. So, a healthy intrinsic production of GH gives us increased mitochondrial production, increased mitochondrial capacity. This increases the efficacy of the citric acid cycle, increasing production of ATP. All this leads to rejuvenation… In muscle purely anabolic as well as non-muscle tissue – non-catabolic there, too.
Peptides: good. Even long term – if cycled of course. They up regulate the body‘s ability to pulse more GH, while keeping a lid on GH adversities because the GH is not exogenous.
Conclusion
Muscle is a bank of amino acids which must be preserved in order to maintain youth. Non-muscle tissue, similarly, must minimize protein breakdown to preserve youth. And if catabolism is prevented in both of them across-the-board, then they don’t have to tap into each other’s stores of amino acids, to boot.
Anabolism, in muscle defined as lack of decrease in muscle protein synthesis, in non-muscle defined as a lack of protein breakdown, occurs with peptide up regulation of the body’s own GH.
Peptide up regulation, necessarily long-term for ongoing maintenance of muscle and non-muscle anabolic effect, of the body’s own GH is as efficacious as exogenous GH, but with complete safety not seen in long term exogenous GH supplementation.
With peptides, we only signal a physiologic response. We do nothing else. The body does the rest. Downstream transcription changes that are all part of its normal physiology. All feedback intact.
With GH, in contrast, there is an exogenous GH producing sustained effects, constantly sending signals, including one telling the body not to make any of its own GH. Constant bleed of GH is what it’s called – there’s no downtime. All the receptors in the body are constantly producing growth hormone effects constantly. This leads to an over expression, particularly harmful in the brain. And the common harmful effect is fear. But also acromegaly, hypertension, diabetes, cardiomyopathy, and malignancy.
