Thyrotropin-releasing hormone

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Image:Thyrotropin-releasing hormone.svg
Structural formula of TRH
thyrotropin-releasing hormone
Identifiers
Symbol(s)	TRH
Entrez	7200
OMIM	275120
RefSeq	NM_007117
UniProt	P20396
Other data
Locus	Chr. 3 q13.3-q21

For other uses, see TRH (disambiguation).

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH), also called thyrotropin-releasing factor (TRF), thyroliberin or protirelin, is a tripeptide hormone that stimulates the release of thyroid-stimulating hormone and prolactin by the anterior pituitary. TRH is produced by the hypothalamus and travels across the median eminence to the pituitary via the hypophyseal portal system.

In addition to the brain, TRH can also be detected in other areas of the body including the gastrointestinal system and pancreatic islets. Medical preparations of TRH are used in diagnostic tests of thyroid disorders and in acromegaly.

The sequence of TRH was first determined and the hormone synthesized by Roger Guillemin and Andrew V. Schally in 1969. Its molecular weight is 359.5 Da and its structure is:

(pyro)Glu-His-Pro-NH₂

It is used in pharmacology (brand name Relefact TRH®) to test the response of the anterior pituitary gland.

[edit] References

Boler J, Enzmann F, Folkers K, Bowers CY, Schally AV. The identity of chemical and hormonal properties of the thyrotropin releasing hormone and pyroglutamyl-histidyl-proline amide. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 1969;37:705-10. PMID 4982117.
Burgus R, Dunn TF, Desiderio D, Guillemin R. Molecular structure of the hypothalamic hypophysiotropic TRF factor of ovine origin: mass spectrometry demonstration of the PCA-His-Pro-NH2 sequence. Comptes Rendus hebdomadaires des Séances de l’Académie des Sciences 1969;269:1870–1873.