Glossary
Also written secretagogue
A secretagogue stimulates the body's own release of a hormone rather than supplying the hormone. The growth hormone secretagogues in this index act either by mimicking growth hormone-releasing hormone at the pituitary or by mimicking ghrelin at its receptor.
The distinction carries a claim with it, and the claim is worth separating from the mechanism. A secretagogue is often marketed as a gentler substitute for the hormone on the grounds that it preserves the body's own release pattern; whether a given compound preserves that pattern is a property of the compound, and the long-acting members of the class flatten it by design.