The brain as an endocrine target for Peptide hormones

Unlike circulating steroid hormones, which have a relatively unhindered passage into the central nervous system, blood-borne peptides are usually restricted by the blood-brain barrier. Some circulating peptides, such as angiotensin II, atrial natriuretic peptide and relaxin, influence central neural pathways subserving cardiovascular and body fluid homeostasis by acting on neurons in the subfornical organ, organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis and area postrema, all of which lack a blood-brain barrier. There are some circulating peptides such as insulin and leptin that are transported from the bloodstream across cerebral blood vessel walls into sites in the hypothalamus that have appropriate neural connections to influence food intake and sympathetic control of brown fat.