Jacques Benoit Lecture. Information processing in the hypothalamus: peptides and analogue computation.

Peptides in the hypothalamus are not like conventional neurotransmitters; their release is not particularly associated with synapses, and their long half-lives mean that they can diffuse to distant targets. Peptides can act on their cells of origin to facilitate the development of patterned electrical activity, they can act on their neighbours to bind the collective activity of a neural population into a coherent signalling entity, and the co-ordinated population output can transmit waves of peptide secretion that act as a patterned hormonal analogue signal within the brain. At their distant targets, peptides can re-programme neural networks, by effects on gene expression, synaptogenesis, and by functionally rewiring connections by priming activity-dependent release.