Progress on Ghrelin in Poultry

The peptide hormone ghrelin is secreted mainly by stomach,and is the only ligand that was found for growth hormone releasing hormone receptor to date.There are two forms of ghrelins exist in the body:N-octanoyl-modified ghrelin and des-acyl ghrelin,and this modification is essential for the activity of ghrelin.Ghrelin is widely distributed in various tissues in the body,with a variety of biological functions:regulating the release of growth hormone,food intaking,energy balance and so on.At present there are many reports related to the rodent animal ghrelin and the corresponding researches have been successful,but the study on poultry ghrelin lags behind,there are many aspects of poultry ghrelin to make clear.This paper made a simple summarize on the research of the poultry ghrelin about the molecular structure,tissue distribution and biological functions,hoping to provide reference for the study of ghrelin in poultry.