Neurotensin – Neuroscience Peptides

Neurotensin (NT) is involved in food absorption in the gut as well as acting as a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS). In the intestine, NT increases fatty acid translocation, in part by increasing intestinal blood flow. In the CNS, NT regulates pathways associated with ghrelin and leptin which mediate satiety and food ingestion. NT is also involved in the regulation of Luteinizing hormone (LH) and Prolactin release and also plays a role in hypotension- analgesia- gut contraction- vascular permeability- maintaining energy homeostasis- fat storage and metabolic disorders. Higher plasma pro-NT levels are associated with obesity and insulin resistance. NT is therefore a potential target for treating obesity-related diseases. NT is secreted from neuroendocrine cells in the small intestine upon fat intake and exerts its physiological actions by binding three NT receptor (NTR) types- NTR1, NTR2, and NTR3. NTR1 is highly expressed in various tumour cells including- small cell carcinoma/small cell lung cancer (SCLC)- meningiomas- astrocytomas- glioblastoma- pancreatic and colonic carcinoma, and breast and prostate cancers. NTR1 is therefore a possible target for novel cancer therapy.