Octreotide powder (brand name Sandostatin, Novartis Pharmaceuticals) is an octapeptide
that mimics natural somatostatin pharmacologically, though it is a more
potent inhibitor of growth hormone, glucagon, and insulin than the
natural hormone. It was first synthesized in 1979 by the chemist
Wilfried Bauer.
Application :
Octreotide has also been used off-label for the treatment of severe, refractory diarrhea from other causes. It is used in toxicology for the
treatment of prolonged recurrent hypoglycemia after sulfonylurea and
possibly meglitinides overdose. It has also been used with varying
degrees of success in infants with nesidioblastosis to help decrease
insulin hypersecretion.
Octreotide has been used experimentally to treat obesity, particularly obesity caused by lesions in the hunger and satiety centers
of the hypothalamus, a region of the brain central to the regulation of
food intake and energy expenditure.[4] The circuit begins with an area
of the hypothalamus, the arcuate nucleus, that has outputs to the
lateral hypothalamus (LH) and ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH), the
brain's feeding and satiety centers, respectively.[5][6] The VMH is
sometimes injured by ongoing treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia
(ALL) or surgery or radiation to treat posterior cranial fossa tumors.
