Sermorelin / 00
What Sermorelin changes, after four decades of research
Sermorelin has 29 amino acids, small parts of proteins. Half the sermorelin leaves blood in 4.3 minutes. Growth hormone rises within 30–60 minutes. Childhood approval came in 1997. The 12 adult studies compared treated people with others.
The short version: what the shot starts
Researchers made sermorelin to help the body supply growth hormone when too little was released. Sermorelin has a 29-amino-acid chain, made from the same small parts as proteins. Growth hormone helps children grow and affects how adults use muscle and fat. The shot prompts a gland beneath your brain to supply growth hormone. Your body still sets limits on how much hormone comes out.
Sermorelin starts that response; the shot doesn't contain growth hormone.
Trials found faster growth among children who lacked growth hormone. Older adults had larger growth hormone bursts. Their livers also made more IGF-1, a separate hormone that helps tissues grow. Over six months, fat fell and the weight of muscle, bone, organs, and water together rose. That combined weight doesn't tell you how much muscle grew. One six-month study found better thinking scores.
Geref, the former sermorelin medicine, won FDA approval for children in 1997. The FDA is the agency that reviews medicines. Geref sales ended in 2008 because of business decisions rather than a safety problem. Pharmacies make current prescription medicine, and sports rules ban sermorelin.
See the effects people describe for both welcome changes and unwanted ones.
What Is Sermorelin doing when the gland responds?
Sermorelin copies part of the natural hormone needed to start growth hormone release [1]. Its 29-amino-acid chain uses the small parts from which proteins are built. The pituitary, a gland as small as a pea that sits under your brain, stores and releases growth hormone. Sermorelin prompts those stored supplies to enter the blood. The chain weighs 3358 daltons; daltons are units used to weigh tiny chemicals.
Your growth hormone comes from the gland after the shot starts the response.
Inside the gland's cells, sermorelin starts the steps needed for release. The body makes a second hormone to slow the release. Growth hormone enters blood in bursts as this brake eases and returns [9]. You still have those limits while sermorelin acts, though working limits don't establish safety.
A growth hormone shot delivers the hormone directly, bypassing the request to your gland. Read what studies found about this response before weighing that difference.
What age changes in your Sermorelin response
The gland must be able to answer sermorelin for growth hormone to rise. Sermorelin has a 29-residue chain; each residue is an amino acid, a small part of proteins. The medicine prompts growth hormone production and release rather than supplying growth hormone itself. Your gland's health therefore matters when you compare yourself with someone in a study.
As you grow older, nighttime growth hormone bursts tend to become smaller.
From your twenties onward, growth hormone release falls about 15% per decade [14]. At age 55, the daily amount is about 25 micrograms for each kilogram the person weighed. Micrograms measure millionths of a gram. During puberty, the body can release about 150 micrograms per kilogram daily [14]. The comparison shows how much release declines, rather than setting your treatment amount. Nighttime bursts shrink with age without occurring less often [14].
A normal age-related decline doesn't establish a need for hormone treatment.
Geref was approved in 1997 for children lacking growth hormone [15]. The maker withdrew the products in 2008–2009. In 2013, the FDA said safety or lack of effect hadn't caused withdrawal [15]. Current prescription sermorelin comes from pharmacies that prepare medicine for patients.
What Is Sermorelin Used for in Research, and who changed?
The studies asked different questions in children, older people, including some with thinking problems.
Children's growth: The 1996 Geref International Study Group studied 110 children still too young for puberty. Their bodies had a growth hormone shortage. Yearly height gain rose from 4.1 centimeters to 8.0 centimeters by the check at 6 months. Children received daily shots beneath the skin containing 30 micrograms for each kilogram the person weighed [1]. Researchers rated 74% as good growth responders at 6 months [1]. The summary doesn't state how much extra growth qualified; bone development stayed normal.
Your body at an older age isn't still growing like a child's body.
Blood tests and fat: Healthy older men received about 1 milligram at bedtime for six months. The liver hormone rose 35% [6]. Body fat fell about 5%. Combined weight from muscle, bone, organs, and water increased, without showing muscle gain alone. Nighttime growth hormone rose without fully regaining the younger pattern [6].
Thinking: After six months of sermorelin, 89 healthy older adults did better on several thinking tests. Picture arranging and timed tasks improved [7]. A separate 20-week tesamorelin trial involved 152 adults, some with mild thinking problems. Tesamorelin improved planning and problem-solving scores; the liver hormone rose 117% [11]. Those are tesamorelin results, so you can't count them as sermorelin results.
See the studies of fat changes for more about those measurements.
What separates Sermorelin from steroid medicines
Sermorelin isn't a steroid, a type of medicine with a different chemical structure. Its 29-amino-acid chain is made from the small parts that also build proteins. Steroids come from cholesterol and have four joined chemical rings. Knowing a steroid's effects won't tell you how sermorelin affects your body.
What Sermorelin Acetate changes in the bottle
Sermorelin acetate is a form of sermorelin whose salt makes mixing with water easier. Geref and later studies used this form. The salt also helps the dried powder keep well. You aren't receiving a different kind of hormone treatment because the name includes acetate.
The powder must become liquid before a study shot can be given.
Researchers used water free of germs, or water containing an ingredient that slows germ growth. Study shots went beneath the skin. Sermorelin's chain weighs about 3358 daltons, units used to weigh tiny chemicals. Read why studies chose particular times to understand when the shots were given.
What Sermorelin approval does not establish for you
Sermorelin prompts growth hormone release instead of acting as a steroid. Your gland provides the growth hormone after the medicine starts the response. That makes sermorelin a different kind of hormone treatment. Sports rules ban sermorelin [16].
The 1997–2009 history concerns childhood treatment and the withdrawal of Geref, not approval for aging.
Current prescriptions are prepared by pharmacies [15]. Pharmacy preparation doesn't show that adult benefits have won FDA approval. Your treatment needs and the former childhood use are separate questions.