PUBLICATION
Ghrelin: structure and function
- Authors
- Kojima, M., and Kangawa, K.
- ID
- ZDB-PUB-070806-1
- Date
- 2005
- Source
- Physiological reviews 85(2): 495-522 (Journal)
- Registered Authors
- Keywords
- none
- MeSH Terms
-
- Amino Acid Sequence
- Animals
- Ghrelin
- Humans
- Molecular Sequence Data
- Peptide Hormones/chemistry*
- Peptide Hormones/genetics
- Peptide Hormones/metabolism
- Peptide Hormones/physiology*
- Structure-Activity Relationship
- Tissue Distribution
- PubMed
- 15788704 Full text @ Physiol. Rev.
Citation
Kojima, M., and Kangawa, K. (2005) Ghrelin: structure and function. Physiological reviews. 85(2):495-522.
Abstract
Small synthetic molecules called growth hormone secretagogues (GHSs) stimulate the release of growth hormone (GH) from the pituitary. They act through the GHS-R, a G protein-coupled receptor whose ligand has only been discovered recently. Using a reverse pharmacology paradigm with a stable cell line expressing GHS-R, we purified an endogenous ligand for GHS-R from rat stomach and named it "ghrelin," after a word root ("ghre") in Proto-Indo-European languages meaning "grow." Ghrelin is a peptide hormone in which the third amino acid, usually a serine but in some species a threonine, is modified by a fatty acid; this modification is essential for ghrelin's activity. The discovery of ghrelin indicates that the release of GH from the pituitary might be regulated not only by hypothalamic GH-releasing hormone, but also by ghrelin derived from the stomach. In addition, ghrelin stimulates appetite by acting on the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus, a region known to control food intake. Ghrelin is orexigenic; it is secreted from the stomach and circulates in the bloodstream under fasting conditions, indicating that it transmits a hunger signal from the periphery to the central nervous system. Taking into account all these activities, ghrelin plays important roles for maintaining GH release and energy homeostasis in vertebrates.
Genes / Markers
Expression
Phenotype
Mutations / Transgenics
Human Disease / Model
Sequence Targeting Reagents
Fish
Orthology
Engineered Foreign Genes
Mapping