Neuropeptide
Neuropeptides are chemical messengers made up of small chains of amino acids. When they bind to receptors, they cause nerve activity. They also act on other tissues like the gut, muscles, and heart. There are over a hundred different types in our bodies.
Peptides are ancient signalling systems that are in almost all animals on Earth (sponges are the exception).[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Neuropeptide signalling may predate the development of nervous tissues or neurotransmitters.[7][8] They are the largest and most varied type of signalling molecules in the nervous system.
References
- ↑ Neuropeptides as regulators of behavior in insects. Annual Review of Entomology 62 (January 2017). p. 35–52. doi:10.1146/annurev-ento-031616-035500.
- ↑ The chemical brain hypothesis for the origin of nervous systems. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences 376 (1821) (March 2021). p. 20190761. doi:10.1098/rstb.2019.0761.
- ↑ Neuropeptide repertoire and 3D anatomy of the ctenophore nervous system. Current Biology 31 (23) (December 2021). p. 5274–5285.e6. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2021.09.005.
- ↑ Insight into the molecular and functional diversity of cnidarian neuropeptides. International Journal of Molecular Sciences 16 (2) (January 2015). p. 2610–2625. doi:10.3390/ijms16022610.
- ↑ Molecular evolution of peptidergic signaling systems in bilaterians. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 110 (22) (May 2013). p. E2028–E2037. doi:10.1073/pnas.1219956110.
- ↑ Evolution of neuropeptide signalling systems. The Journal of Experimental Biology 221 (Pt 3) (February 2018). p. jeb151092. doi:10.1242/jeb.151092.
- ↑ Premetazoan origin of neuropeptide signaling. Molecular Biology and Evolution 39 (4) (April 2022). p. msac051. doi:10.1093/molbev/msac051.
- ↑ High cell diversity and complex peptidergic signaling underlie placozoan behavior. Current Biology 28 (21) (November 2018). p. 3495–3501.e2. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2018.08.067.