Peptide directoryBrain, hypothalamus & pituitary

Cortistatin

Somatostatin’s cortical cousin, a peptide of sleep and quiet.

Where it comes from

Made in
GABA interneurons of the cortex and hippocampus; immune cells
Sent out by
With the sleep-wake cycle; rises during sleep deprivation
Acts on
  • Cortical neurons
  • Pituitary (growth hormone)
  • Immune cells
  • Gut

What it does

  • Promotes slow-wave sleep and reduces movement when given into the brain
  • Suppresses growth hormone like somatostatin
  • Calms inflammation more broadly than somatostatin, through its extra receptors

In medicine

  • None of its own; the somatostatin analogues act on the five receptors the two peptides share
  • It is not measured in clinical practice, and separating it from somatostatin in an assay is hard because the ring that carries the activity is nearly identical

Beyond the body’s own use

  • No human trial of cortistatin has been run; everything claimed for it comes from rodents and cultured cells
  • Given into the brain it deepens slow-wave sleep and quiets cortical activity, which is how it was found and what it was named for 1
  • In mouse models of arthritis, colitis and sepsis it damped inflammation more broadly than somatostatin, which fits its extra receptors 2

Sources

  1. de Lecea et al., A cortical neuropeptide with neuronal depressant and sleep-modulating properties, Nature 1996
  2. Gonzalez-Rey et al., Lulling immunity, pain and stress to sleep with cortistatin, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 2015

This card describes what a medicine is for and what the evidence says; it recommends nothing. Talk to your clinician about anything you read here.