GH Peptides (Metabolic & Incretin Signaling Research)

GH peptides — short for growth-hormone-related peptides — are a research category that includes two main subgroups. The first is growth-hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) analogs, such as Sermorelin, Tesamorelin, and CJC-1295, which are studied for their interaction with the GHRH receptor. The second is growth hormone secretagogues, such as Ipamorelin, GHRP-2, GHRP-6, and Hexarelin, which are studied for their interaction with the ghrelin receptor (GHS-R1a).

Both subgroups are investigated in the research context of growth-hormone-axis biology. All GH peptide products from Function Dose are lyophilized research compounds intended solely for in vitro laboratory investigation.

Recombinant human growth hormone is the full 191-amino-acid human GH protein, produced via recombinant DNA technology. It is essentially identical to the endogenous hormone itself. GH peptides, by contrast, are much shorter sequences — typically on the order of a few to a few dozen amino acids — that do not act as GH themselves but rather engage upstream receptors (GHRH-R or GHS-R1a) involved in the GH signaling axis.

This makes the two categories mechanistically distinct. Recombinant GH is a replacement of the hormone itself, while GH peptides are research tools for studying the regulatory machinery that controls endogenous GH release.

GHRH analogs are peptides modeled on the natural growth-hormone-releasing hormone sequence. They are studied for their ability to bind the GHRH receptor on the pituitary — the same receptor used by endogenous GHRH. Examples include Sermorelin (a GHRH 1-29 analog), Tesamorelin, and CJC-1295.

GH secretagogues are a structurally different class of peptides that act through the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHS-R1a), better known as the ghrelin receptor. Examples include Ipamorelin, GHRP-2, GHRP-6, and Hexarelin. The two classes engage different receptors and are therefore studied as distinct pharmacological families in research on GH signaling.