Melanotan 2 (MT-2) is a synthetic version of human alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (a-MSH). It was originally developed in the 1980s, at the University of Arizona, after it was found that a-MSH caused sexual arousal in rodents as well as darkening of the skin.
Follistatin 344 Structure:
Peptide Sequence: Nle-Asp(1)-His-D-Phe-Arg-Trp-Lys(1)
Molecular Formula: C50H69N1509
Molecular Weight: 1024. 198 g/mol
PubChem CID: 92432
CAS Number: 121062-08-6
Melanotan 2 (MT-2) is a synthetic version of human alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (a-MSH). It was originally developed in the 1980s, at the University of Arizona, after it was found that a-MSH caused sexual arousal in rodents as well as darkening of the skin.
The effects of MT-2 are similar to those of the hormone leptin, sometimes called the satiety hormone because it reduces cravings and food intake. Leptin, however, has never been useful in the treatment of obesity, even in individuals who are leptin deficient. This is likely because there are two pathways for satiety, called leptin-dependent and leptin-independent pathways. Research suggests MT-2 is more effective in stimulating both pathways and thus may be a more effective exogenous treatment for reducing hunger. This latter finding has been bolstered by the discovery that thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) gene expression, which has long been knawn to play a role in the leptin-satiety pathway, is also affected by MC-4R stimulation!. Both MT-2 and leptin are thought to cause an increase in TRH expression in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, a region of the brain associated with satiety and food intake, but only MT-2 crosses into the central nervous system in concentrations high enough to have an effect on TRH expression.
