Word: corticotropin
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Some scientists believe that the neurotransmitters are just links in a chain of reactions and that the real master molecules of mood reside higher up in that chain. One leading candidate: a substance called corticotropin- releasing hormone, or crh, which is pumped directly into the spinal fluid and thus bathes the entire brain at once. Discovered in 1981 by researchers studying the biochemistry of stress, crh is known to promote vigilance and decrease interest in food and sex when administered in small doses. In higher doses, it triggers anxiety. When Philip Gold, chief of the clinical neuroendocrinology branch...
...late 1981 scientists at the Salk Institute synthesized the remarkable chemical that triggers the body's stress reactions. As illustrated above, the substance, called corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), is produced in the hypothalamus, a tiny but powerful structure sometimes called "the brain's brain." Having duplicated CRF, the Salk scientists now hope to produce a modified version of the chemical that would actually block the body's reaction to stress...
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