Endocrine Abstracts

omatostatin, originally isolated from ovine hypothalami in 1973, and cortistatin, identified a decade ago in amphibians and then in human and rodents, are two highly related peptides thought to derive from a common ancestor gene. Owing to their high structural homology, both peptides bind with similar affinity to the five so-called somatostatin receptors (sst1-sst5), and exert virtually undistinguishable effects on several physiological targets, including inhibition of endocri...