(Des-octanoyl)-Ghrelin Human – Neuroscience Peptides

Ghrelin is an orexigenic peptide hormone mainly produced in the stomach as precursor preproghrelin. Cleavage of preproghrelin followed by modification leads to the formation of ghrelin with the addition of a fatty acid to its serine 3 residue- ghrelin is capable of activating the growth hormone release receptor (GHSR). Ghrelin is involved in appetite stimulation and growth hormone release. Most circulating ghrelin is in the non-acylated form (des-octanoyl) ghrelin. (Des-octanoyl)-ghrelin has some distinct functions from ghrelin, the lack of acylation prevents binding to the ghrelin receptor and growth hormone release. However, (des-octanoyl) ghrelin has negative inotropic effects on papillary muscle and cardioprotective function. There is evidence (des-octanoyl) ghrelin inhibits proliferation of certain cancer cell lines, while promoting adipogenesis has been observed in other experiments in vivo.