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Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 293))

Abstract

Insulin has been demonstrated within the brain of various animal species (1). Investigations undertaken in the chick demonstrated the presence of insulin in embryonic heads prior to the development of pancreatic insulin (2). These observations prompted a search for an extra-pancreatic source of insulin production within the brain. A surge of reports were subsequently noted (3–7) including the recent observations of brain insulin-like transcripts (8–12), thereby defending a central nervous system origin of insulin. On the other hand, there has been accumulating evidence supporting the fact that circulating insulin crosses the blood-cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) barrier and enters the CSF (13–14). Having entered the CSF, insulin was then observed to be taken up by the brain parenchyma at the circumventricular organs which lack a blood-brain barrier (15–17). Thus, there continues to be an ongoing controversy as to the exact origin of insulin within the CNS. Is it pancreatic or extra-pancreatic?

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Devaskar, S.U. (1991). A Review of Insulin/Insulin-Like Peptide in the Central Nervous System. In: Raizada, M.K., LeRoith, D. (eds) Molecular Biology and Physiology of Insulin and Insulin-Like Growth Factors. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 293. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-5949-4_34

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