Human (h) pituitary growth hormone (GH) is both physiologically and clinically important. GH reaches its highest circulatory levels in puberty, where it contributes to energy homeostasis and somatogenic growth. GH also helps to maintain tissues and organs and, thus, health and homeostasis. A reduction in the rate of hGH production begins in middle age but if GH insufficiency occurs this may result in tissue degenerative and metabolic diseases. As a consequence, hGH is prescribed under conditions of GH deficiency and, because of its lipolytic activity, stimulation of hGH release has also been used to treat obesity. However, studies of normal GH production and particularly synthesis versus secretion are not feasible in humans as they require sampling normal pituitaries from living subjects. Furthermore, human (or primate) GH structure and, as such, regulation and potential function, is distinct from non-primate rodent GH. As a result, most information about hGH regulation comes from measurements of secreted levels of GH in humans. Thus, partially humanized hGH transgenic mice, generated containing fragments of human chromosome 17 that include the intact hGH gene locus and many thousands of flanking base pairs as well as the endogenous mouse (m) GH gene provide a potentially useful model. Here we review this mouse model in terms of its ability to allow comparison of hGH versus mGH gene expression, and specifically: (i) GH locus structure as well as regulated and rhythmic expression; (ii) their ability to model a clinical assessment of hGH production in response to overeating and hyperinsulinemia as well as a possible effect of exercise, and (iii) their hGH-related immune tolerance and thus potential for testing hGH-related analogue immunogenicity.

人（h）垂体生长激素（GH）在生理和临床上都很重要。GH在青春期达到了最高的循环水平，在其中有助于能量稳态和生体生长。GH还有助于维持组织和器官，从而保持健康和体内平衡。hGH产生率的降低始于中年，但是如果发生GH不足，则可能导致组织变性和代谢性疾病。结果，hGH在GH缺乏的情况下开出处方，并且由于其脂解活性，hGH释放的刺激也已用于治疗肥胖症。但是，有关正常GH产生的研究，尤其是合成与分泌在人类中是不可行的，因为它们需要从活着的受试者中取样正常的垂体。此外，人（或灵长类）GH结构以及调节和潜在功能均不同于非灵长类啮齿动物GH。结果，有关hGH调节的大多数信息来自人类中GH分泌水平的测量。因此，产生的部分人源化的hGH转基因小鼠含有人类染色体17的片段，该片段包括完整的hGH基因基因座和数千个侧翼碱基对以及内源性小鼠（m）GH基因，提供了潜在有用的模型。在这里，我们从允许比较hGH与mGH基因表达，特别是：（i）GH基因座结构以及调控和节律性表达；（ii）他们具有对饮食过量和高胰岛素血症做出反应的hGH生产临床评估进行建模的能力，以及运动的可能作用，以及（iii）他们的hGH相关免疫耐受性，因此具有测试hGH相关类似物免疫原性的潜力。