Article
Article
Calcitonin
Article By:
Rasmussen, Howard Department of Biochemistry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Last reviewed:January 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.695500
A hormone, the only known secretory product of the parenchymal or C cells of the mammalian thyroid and of the ultimobranchial glands of lower animal forms. The hormone calcitonin (also referred to as thyrocalcitonin) has been isolated and characterized from porcine and human thyroid tissue, as well as from fish ultimobranchial tissue. In all cases, it is a polypeptide of 3800 molecular weight characterized by a single polypeptide chain. The amino acid sequence of porcine calcitonin is shown in the illustration. The sequences of both human calcitonin and fish calcitonin have also been determined and are different from each other and from the porcine hormone, except in the N-terminal seven amino acids. See also: Hormone; Thyroid gland; Thyroid hormones; Ultimobranchial bodies
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