Untilaboutfiveyearsago,theveryideathatpeptidehormonesmightbemadeanywhereinthebrainbesidesthehypothalamuswasastounding
Peptidehormones,scientiststhought,weremadebyendocrineglandsandthehypothalamuswasthoughttobethebrains’onlyendocrinegland
Whatismore,becausepeptidehormonescannotcrosstheblood-brainbarrier,researchersbelievedthattheynevergottoanypartofthebrainotherthanthehypothalamus,wheretheyweresimplyproducedandthenreleasedintothebloodstream
Butthesebeliefsaboutpeptidehormoneswerequestionedaslaboratoryafterlaboratoryfoundthatantiserumstopeptidehormones,wheninjectedintothebrain,bindinplacesotherthanthehypothalamus,indicatingthateitherthehormonesorsubstancesthatcross-reactwiththeantiserumsarepresent
Theimmunologicalmethodofdetectingpeptidehormonesbymeansofantiserums,however,isimprecise
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