Calcitonin: Analgesic Effects

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Abstract
Calcitonin was discovered 20 years ago and was first regarded as an osteotropic hypocalcemic hormone, antagonizing parathyroid hormone (Copp 1969). Later, the stimulation of calcitonin secretion by gastrointestinal hormones and the inhibition of the function of several gastrointestinal organs were described (for review, see Ziegler 1981). Presumably, calcitonin is a calcium-conserving hormone at least in mammals. Calcitonin was detected not only in the thyroid C cells, originating from the terminal branchial pouch, but also in the thymus, adrenals, lungs, and the brain (MacIntyre and Stevenson 1981), depending on the species investigated. The hormone is found in primitive prevertebrate organisms, such as Ciona intestinalis, and it is possible that, primarily, it exerts neuroendocrine functions. Later in phylogenesis, it becomes involved in the regulation of bone metabolism after the development of mineralized hard tissue.