scotophobin Biochem.
(skəʊtəʊˈfəʊbɪn)
[f. scoto-2 + ϕόβ-ος fear + -in1; cf. scotophobia1 s.v. scoto-2.]
An oligopeptide isolated from the brains of rats which have been trained to avoid darkness, and which is claimed to induce dark avoidance in untrained rats and possibly also in animals of other species.
| 1970 G. Ungar et al. in Proc. Western Pharmacol. Soc. XIII. 150 We propose to give the name ‘scotophobin’ to the new substance. 1971 New Scientist 3 June 559/3 The peptide, called scotophobin, contains only 15 amino acids. 1975 Behavioral Biol. XV. 470 Acceptance of these assumptions forces us to reject the hypothesis that ‘fear of the dark’ was encoded in scotophobin. 1976 F. Warner Killing Time ii. ix. 61 We could inject Scotophobin and induce a fear of the dark. |