Harvard Chemists synthesize HGH group

The synthesis of a family of hormones that could be of as much medical importance as the steroid drugs are today has been made by a Harvard Research Group. The steroids that can be classified as another group of hormones are the active ingredients in drugs such as birth control pills.

Detailed report of the research appeared in an issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

From Thecrimson.com:

Major Effects

Earlier researchers have intensively studied the prostaglandins because of indications that even as little as a billionth of an ounce of the hormones could have major effects on many different body processes.

Some have been found to speed up or to slow heart rate, to raise or lower blood pressure, to control deposits of fat inside blood vessels, or to change nervous activity in the brain. And present studies are testing their capability in birth control and the ability to withstand stress.

Icelandic Sheep

But all of these studies have been limited by the difficulty of obtaining working amounts of the hormones in pure form. The largest of the present meager sources is in extracts from the tests of Icelandic sheep.

Since all the prostaglandins have a closely similar chemical structure--based on a backbone of a ring of 5 carbon atoms to which 15 others are attached--synthesis of all members of the family should be a relatively easy matter. This will make possible their production in large enough quantities for research into their medical uses.

The group, which was led by Elias J. Corey, professor of Chemistry and chairman of the Chemistry department, was able to synthesize five members of a class of fifteen hormones called as prostaglandins.