From which source is growth hormone commonly attempted to be obtained?

From which source is growth hormone commonly attempted to be obtained?

• A. Cadavers
• B. Plants
• C. Bacterial cultures
• D. Synthetic perfumes

Answer: (A)

Growth hormone is produced by the pituitary gland, so the practical source for medical GH in the past was the pituitary glands taken from deceased donors. Extracting GH from cadaver pituitaries allowed clinicians to treat growth disorders long before biotechnology enabled production without human tissue. However, this approach carried safety risks, including transmission of diseases such as Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, which ultimately led to phasing out cadaver-derived GH. Today, growth hormone is made using recombinant DNA technology, produced in bacterial cultures or in mammalian cell systems, which provide large quantities without relying on human tissue. The other options don’t fit because plants don’t produce human GH in meaningful amounts, and synthetic perfumes are unrelated to hormone production. So the historically common source was cadavers.

Growth hormone is produced by the pituitary gland, so the practical source for medical GH in the past was the pituitary glands taken from deceased donors. Extracting GH from cadaver pituitaries allowed clinicians to treat growth disorders long before biotechnology enabled production without human tissue. However, this approach carried safety risks, including transmission of diseases such as Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, which ultimately led to phasing out cadaver-derived GH. Today, growth hormone is made using recombinant DNA technology, produced in bacterial cultures or in mammalian cell systems, which provide large quantities without relying on human tissue. The other options don’t fit because plants don’t produce human GH in meaningful amounts, and synthetic perfumes are unrelated to hormone production. So the historically common source was cadavers.