Add to ORKGKey words: hormones; diffuse neuroendocrine system; non-endocrine cells; hormonal function; regulation of homeostasis. Neuroendocrinology Letters 2000; 21:173–174 In recent years attention of the specialists in different fields of biomedi-cine has focus on an unusual phenomenon, i.e., many so-called “non-endo-crine ” cells in living organism produce hormones. In addition to neurons and some types of lymphocytes for which such abil-ity was shown earlier [1–2], a large number of other cells significantly ex-tend this list today. Among them, mast cells, natural killer cells, eosino-philic leukocytes, endothelial cells, thymic epithelial cells, monocytes, platelets, chondrocytes, osteocytes, placental trophoblasts and amnion cells, ovarian Leyd...