Selective depletion of somatostatin in rat brain by cysteamine

A single injection of cysteamine (300 mg/kg, subcutaneously) results in a 70–80% decrease in somatostatin levels in the periventricular nucleus where somatostatin-producing neurons are located and the median eminence where somatostatinergic nerve terminals are. The drug seems quite selective: no changes in levels of other neuropeptides — LH-RH, vasopressin, enkephalin, VIP, CCK — were observed in the same animals.