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Abstract:
We have recently isolated and sequenced a neuropeptide from the freshwater coelenterate hydra (Hydra attenuata), which was named head activator because it controls head-specific growth and differentiation processes1–4. The head activator is an undecapeptide of molecular weight 1,142, with the sequence pGlu-Pro-Pro-Gly-Gly-Ser-Lys-Val-Ile-Leu-Phe. We have also previously purified a peptide from mammalian brain and intestine which has similar biological and chemical properties to those of the head activator from hydra5,6. Here, we present evidence that a peptide of identical amino acid sequence to the head activator can be isolated from human hypothalamus, bovine hypothalamus and rat intestine. This is the first example of a neuropeptide conserved structurally intact from a most primitive nervous system to the advanced nervous system represented in humans.
