Latest Neuropeptides Stories

A U.S. researcher said on Sunday that soldiers who perform best under extreme stress have higher levels of chemicals that dampen the fear response, Reuters reported.Many say the finding could lead to new drugs or training strategies to help others cope better with intense combat situations.Deane Aikins of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut said that certain individuals just don't get as stressed as others. "Their stress hormones are actually lower," she told reporters at the American...

Researchers have found that kissing unleashes chemicals that ease stress hormones in both sexes and encourages bonding in men, though not so much in women, according to the Associated Press.Wendy Hill, a professor of neuroscience at Lafayette College, told a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on Friday that chemicals in the saliva might be a way to assess a mate.A study involving pairs of heterosexual college students who kissed for 15 minutes while listening...

According to Bianca Acevedo, a New York neuroscientist, love is in the head and not the heart.Acevedo is part a new field in science that seeks to biologically explain love, and so far they have found that love is mostly understood through hormones, genetics, and brain images, according to a report from the Associated Press."It has a biological basis. We know some of the key players," said Larry Young of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, where he searches for clues as to...

U.S. medical scientists say they've discovered increased levels of a natural brain chemical can block weight gain. The researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center found mice with increased levels of the chemical orexin don't gain weight when fed a high-fat diet. The chemical works by increasing the body's sensitivity to the so-called weight-loss hormone leptin, the researchers said. Professor Masashi Yanagisawa, senior author of the study, said finding a way to boost...

Falling asleep involuntarily during the day poses a very real and dangerous problem, Canadian researchers said. Researchers at the Montreal Neurological Institute at McGill University demonstrates sleep-wake states are regulated by two types of nerve cells, melanin-concentrating hormone neurons and orexin neurons, which occupy the same region of the brain, but perform opposite functions. The study is the first to discover that melanin-concentrating hormone neurons are activated during...

Lack of sleep is a common complaint but for many, falling asleep involuntarily during the day poses a very real and dangerous problem. A new study from the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) at McGill University demonstrates interestingly, that sleep-wake states are regulated by two different types of nerve cells (neurons), melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) neurons and orexin (Orx) neurons, which occupy the same region of the brain but perform opposite functions. The MNI study is the...

Mice with increased levels of a natural brain chemical don't gain weight when fed a high-fat diet, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.The chemical, orexin, works by increasing the body's sensitivity to the "weight-loss hormone," leptin, the researchers report.Finding a way to boost the orexin system may prove useful as a therapy against obesity, said Dr. Masashi Yanagisawa, professor of molecular genetics at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study, which...

Mothers who breastfeed are less likely to neglect their children, said a Baylor College of Medicine researcher in a report that appears online in the journal Pediatrics today.Although many factors are associated with maternal neglect, this study provides new evidence that breastfeeding may have a protective effect, said Dr. Lane Strathearn, assistant professor of pediatrics at BCM and Texas Children's Hospital and the senior author on the study.Strengthening bond"Promoting breastfeeding...

University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have solved the mystery surrounding a "rogue protein" that plays a role in the release of neurotransmitters and hormones in the brain.The scientists found abundant amounts of the puzzling protein "” whose main location and function were unknown until now "” in a specific area of the pituitary gland. Like someone at a control knob, the protein may adjust the release of the two hormones that come almost exclusively from the posterior...

People with autism or other conditions that impact social skills might benefit from new research on hormones.  Scientists say the hormone oxytocin can boost the ability of humans to recognize faces.Swiss and U.S. researchers decided to study oxytocin because the hormone, which is known to play a role in childbirth and breastfeeding, has been shown to influence social recognition in mice. In this study, they administered a single dose of either oxytocin or a placebo to study participants...