... thesurge of 8K-BLP release in this period is reminiscent of the massive release of IGF-I and IGF-II duringpubertal and fetal development, respectively, in mam-mals [4]. Finally, like that of IGFs, ... essential roles in fetal and postnatalgrowth and development of mammals. They are secreted by a wide variety of tissues, with the liver being the major source of circulating IGFs, and regulate cell ... these,bombyxins, a family of peptides produced by the brain of the silkmoth Bombyx mori, were the first to be dem-onstrated to have structural homology to vertebrateinsulins [7,8]. Bombyxin-II, one of...