by thenewgreen

A squirt of NPY into the nose can travel widely throughout the brain—but not the body, where harmful side effects could damage the heart. Recently Sabban determined that the treatment seems to work by reducing the number of receptors for the stress hormone cortisol, particularly in the ventral hippocampus, a brain area where emotional memories are formed. Future work will test whether NPY also alleviates established PTSD-like symptoms in rats.