Pharmacology · Glossary
Secretagogue
Also written: Secretogogue
Definition
A secretagogue is a substance that tells a gland to release (secrete) its own hormone — instead of adding that hormone from outside the body.
The word looks intimidating but the idea is friendly: a secretagogue makes a gland secrete something it already makes. “Secrete” plus “-agogue” (a leader or prompter) — a prompter of secretion.
The distinction that matters is this: instead of injecting the finished hormone, you give a signal that tells your own body to produce more of it. It’s the difference between pouring water into a tank versus turning on the pump that fills it.
This is the whole idea behind the growth-hormone-releasing peptides. A “growth hormone secretagogue” like ipamorelin or CJC-1295 doesn’t contain growth hormone at all — it signals the pituitary gland to release its own. Fans of this approach argue it keeps the body’s natural rhythms and feedback loops more intact than injecting the hormone straight.
A concrete way to read that label: ipamorelin supplies a signal, while the pituitary supplies the growth hormone. CJC-1295 illustrates the same upstream idea through the growth-hormone-releasing pathway rather than by serving as growth hormone itself. In both cases, secretagogue describes the compound’s job: prompt endogenous output instead of replacing that output from outside the body.
The practical upshot: when a peptide is labeled a secretagogue, it’s working one step upstream. It’s pressing the body’s own button rather than replacing the output. That also means the response depends on your body still being able to make the hormone in the first place.