Calcitonin gene-related peptide regulates muscle acetylcholine receptor synthesis

Innervation of muscle by motoneurones induces the development of a characteristic, high density cluster of acetylcholine receptors (AChRs) at the neuromuscular junction. Studies in vitro show that the accumulation of AChRs at nerve-muscle contacts results from both increased insertion of new AChRs into the muscle plasma membrane beneath nerve terminals and redistribution of preexisting AChRs; these two modes of AChR accumulation may be separately controlled since factors have been identified that influence AChR redistribution but not synthesis. Although many aspects of muscle development are regulated by nerve-dependent muscle activity, junctional AChR clusters still develop when neuromuscular transmission is blocked by either curare or alpha-bungarotoxin, suggesting that their formation is mediated by nerve-derived trophic factors other than activity. A molecule immunologically related to calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP-I) has been found in motoneurones in a variety of mammals including man. Here we provide indirect evidence that CGRP-I may be a motoneurone-derived trophic factor that increases AChR synthesis at vertebrate neuromuscular junctions.     

Calcitonin gene-related peptide regulates calcium current in heart muscle

The influx of Ca2+ due to the transmembrane calcium current, ICa, has a fundamental role in cardiac pacemaker activity, in the action potential plateau and in excitation-contraction coupling. Both sympathetic and parasympathetic neurotransmitters can modulate ICa. Recent studies indicate that in both the cardiovascular and the central nervous systems, nerve varicosities exist that contain a novel non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic peptide--calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). Although CGRP is known to exert strong positive inotropic and chronotropic effects, as well as to cause vasodilation, very little is known about the ionic mechanisms of these effects. Here we report that CGRP dramatically increases ICa in single heart cells. Although this CGRP-induced increase in ICa resembles the effect of beta-adrenergic agonists, our results demonstrate some significant differences between the effects of CGRP and these agonists: (1) the increase due to CGRP cannot be blocked by beta-adrenergic antagonists; (2) the CGRP-induced effect is transient; and, (3) CGRP can inhibit isoproterenol-stimulated ICa. Our results provide the first electrophysiological evidence that CGRP can significantly modulate ICa in the heart, and suggest a new additional mechanism for the neurogenic control of cardiac function.     

Expression of dopaminergic phenotypes in the mouse olfactory bulb induced by the calcitonin gene-related peptide

In the olfactory bulb, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the rate-limiting enzyme in the biosynthesis of catecholamines, is expressed after birth when the axons of olfactory epithelial neurons have made synapses in the bulb. It has been suggested that expression of TH is regulated trans-synaptically because on deafferentation of the bulb there is a marked decrease in the contents of TH, dopamine and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid, which, however, return to normal levels after regeneration of the primary afferents. To date the molecular signalling involved in this trans-synaptic induction has not yet been characterized; I have therefore studied the expression of dopaminergic properties (presence of TH and dopamine uptake) in dissociated cell cultures from embryonic mouse olfactory bulb. I report that the number of dopaminergic cells increases fivefold when olfactory bulb neurons are co-cultured with olfactory epithelial neurons and that soluble factors, rather than cell interactions, mediate this effect. The dopaminergic-inducing factor is the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) which is present in chemosensory neurons of the olfactory epithelium and when added at nanomolar concentrations to olfactory bulb cultures mimics the effect of olfactory epithelial neurons. Significantly the induction of dopaminergic phenotypes brought about by olfactory epithelial neurons is abolished by an antiserum to CGRP. These observations show that CGRP is involved in the differentiation of dopaminergic olfactory bulb neurons.     

Calcitonin gene-related peptide acts as a novel vasodilator neurotransmitter in mesenteric resistance vessels of the rat

Systemic blood pressure is controlled by changes in the resistance of the peripheral vascular bed for example in the mesenteric blood vessels. The tone of peripheral blood vessels is primarily maintained by sympathetic vasoconstrictor nerves. Although vasodilator innervation has been identified in certain isolated elastic arteries, it is not known whether vasodilator nerves contribute to the regulation of the peripheral resistance vessels. We present pharmacological evidence for the existence of nonadrenergic, noncholinergic (NANC) vasodilator nerves in the mesenteric resistance vessel of the rat and that the resistance is controlled by not only sympathetic vasoconstrictor nerves but also NANC vasodilator nerves. We also show that the neurogenic vasodilation was selectively abolished by depleting endogenous calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), a potent vasodilator neuropeptide, from perivascular nerves. This indicates that CGRP is a novel vasodilator neurotransmitter and may play a role in control of the total peripheral resistance of systemic circulation through a local reflex mechanism.     

Arterial dilations in response to calcitonin gene-related peptide involve activation of K+ channels

Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) is a 37-amino-acid peptide produced by alternative processing of messenger RNA from the calcitonin gene. CGRP is one of the most potent vasodilators known. It occurs in and is released from perivascular nerves and has been detected in the blood stream, suggesting that it is important in the control of blood flow. The mechanism by which it dilates arteries is not known. Here, we report that arterial dilations in response to CGRP are partially reversed by blockers of the ATP-sensitive potassium channel (K(ATP)), glibenclamide and barium. We also show that CGRP hyperpolarizes arterial smooth muscle and that blockers of K(ATP) channels reverse this hyperpolarization. Finally, we show that CGRP opens single K+ channels in patches on single smooth muscle cells from the same arteries. We propose that activation of K(ATP) channels underlies a substantial part of the relaxation produced by CGRP.     

Pancreatic amylin and calcitonin gene-related peptide cause resistance to insulin in skeletal muscle in vitro

Insulin resistance occurs in a variety of conditions, including diabetes, obesity and essential hypertension, but its underlying molecular mechanisms are unclear. In type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetes mellitus, it is insulin-resistance in skeletal muscle, the chief site of insulin-mediated glucose disposal in humans, that predominantly accounts for the low rates of glucose clearance from the blood, and hence for impaired glucose tolerance. Human type 2 diabetes is characterized by a decrease in non-oxidative glucose storage (muscle glycogen synthesis), and by the deposition of amyloid in the islets of Langerhans. Amylin is a 37-amino-acid peptide which is a major component of islet amyloid and has structural similarity to human calcitonin gene-related peptide-2 (CGRP-2; ref. 8). CGRP is a neuropeptide which may be involved in motor activity in skeletal muscle. We now report that human pancreatic amylin and rat CGRP-1 are potent inhibitors of both basal and insulin-stimulated rates of glycogen synthesis in stripped rat soleus muscle in vitro. These results may provide a basis for a new understanding of the molecular mechanisms that cause insulin resistance in skeletal muscle.     

Substance P in the ascending cholinergic reticular system

The neocortex receives a major cholinergic innervation from magnocellular neurones in the basal forebrain. However, an ascending cholinergic reticular system has also been postulated to arise from acetylcholinesterase (AChE)-containing neurones in the midbrain and pontine tegmentum. Lesions of this region decrease both AChE and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in various forebrain areas, and recent immunohistochemical studies have identified a group of ChAT-containing cell bodies in the midbrain reticular formation and dorsolateral pontine tegmentum. Here we have combined retrograde tracing with ChAT immunohistochemistry to demonstrate that this tegmental cholinergic cell group also directly innervates the cerebral cortex. Other immunohistochemical studies have indicated that the neuropeptide substance P is also present in certain cells in the laterodorsal tegmentum, and these too appear to project to the forebrain. We have therefore performed immunohistochemistry for both ChAT and substance P and have discovered that a subpopulation of the ascending cholinergic reticular neurones contains substance P. Thus, peptide-cholinergic coexistence, previously noted in peripheral neurones, also occurs in the brain.     

P物质对大鼠星状神经节细胞的影响

应用细胞内生物电记录方法，观察神经肽Ｐ物质（ＳＰ）对大鼠星状神经节能细胞的影响，用灌流或用加压向细胞周围施加ＳＰ可使部分细胞发生膜除极反应，用低钙或用含河豚毒素克氏液灌流神经节，并不影响ＳＰ引起的除极反应的幅度和时程。ＳＰ引起除极反应的同时常伴有膜电阻增大，当膜电位增大时，除极化反应幅度变小，反转电位为－８０ｍＶ至－１００ｍＶ，研究表明，ＳＰ对部分星状神经节细胞具有直接兴奋作用，并且ＳＰ对细胞膜的     

奶牛乳腺炎与P物质和肥大细胞的相关性研究

应用组织学、组织化学和免疫组织化学方法对奶牛不同病变时期乳腺不同部位的肥大细胞的数量、活力以及P物质表达水平的动态变化进行了研究.结果表明,乳腺炎乳腺组织中大量的炎性细胞浸染小叶间质、腺泡及腺上皮细胞间、腺泡腔内、乳导管及血管内壁与周围,并随着病程延长,乳腺不同部位的炎性细胞急剧增多,并呈上升趋势,与正常乳腺比较差异均有统计学意义（P〈0.01）,其中,乳基部（乳腺炎3个月）最高,其和乳体部与乳头部比较差异均有统计学意义（P〈0.01）;腺泡结构渐进紊乱,小叶内血管内膜突起出现裂隙;乳腺不同部位的黏膜肥大细胞及其脱颗粒变化和P物质的表达水平均与炎性细胞浸染变化相吻合,且P物质神经纤维与肥大细胞相关联.P物质和肥大细胞参与奶牛乳腺炎的病理进程.     

小鼠趾叶炎与P物质的相关性研究

采用组织化学和免疫组化的染色方法,检测趾叶炎小鼠趾部组织中炎性细胞、肥大细胞及其脱颗粒数和P物质表达的动态变化.结果表明,炎症组小鼠趾部P物质在真皮网状层及血管和腺体周围随着二磷酸组织胺免疫时间的推移,表达逐渐增强,多呈网状走行,且与肥大细胞串联及相邻排列;炎症组小鼠趾部肥大细胞及其脱颗粒和炎性细胞随二磷酸组织胺免疫时间的延长急剧增多,均极显著高于正常组(P<0.01),在给药后14 h三者达到峰值,而后减少,给药后72 h又出现上升趋势;同时,在真皮出现了许多增生的动脉,管壁增厚,管腔内有血栓形成.由此推断,P物质参与小鼠趾叶炎的发病过程.     

Corticotropin regulates transsynaptically the activity of septo-hippocampal cholinergic neurones

The activity of septo-hippocampal neurones is affected by the action on cholinergic perikarya in the septum of a variety of putative neurotransmitters, including substance P and beta-endorphin. (The latter is released in the septal region from neurones which originate in the medial basal hypothalamus.) It has also been reported that two other neuropeptides, corticotropin (ACTH1-24) and alpha-melanotropin (alpha-MSH), affect acetylcholine turnover in septo-hippocampal neurones in a manner that is not blocked by transection of the afferents to the hippocampus, from which it has been inferred that the neurotransmitters act directly on the hippocampus. We now describe experiments with corticotropin which show that the effect is rather the influence on septo-hippocampal cholinergic neurones of peptidergic neurones within the septum.     

P物质在临床型乳腺炎奶牛肝组织中的表达及意义

应用组织化学和免疫组织化学方法对正常与临床型乳腺炎奶牛肝组织中P物质的表达水平、炎性细胞以及肥大细胞的数量、活力、组化性质的变化进行了研究．结果表明，P物质在临床型乳腺炎奶牛肝组织的肝血窦、肝小叶间质、中央静脉、小叶闻动脉和静脉周围并常丰富，呈单根或多交错成网走行，表达增强．临床型乳腺炎奶牛肝组织的肥大细胞和炎性细胞也急剧增多，均极显著高于正常奶牛（P〈0．01），并与P物质的表达水平相吻合．同时，肝细胞索结构出现紊乱，肝小血管的内皮细胞出现脱落．由此表明，P物质参与临床型乳腺炎病理过程中所致肝组织损伤的病理进程．     

Vasoactive intestinal peptide regulates mitosis, differentiation and survival of cultured sympathetic neuroblasts

Although acute, millisecond-to-millisecond actions of neurotransmitters are well documented, diverse longer-term effects have been discovered only recently. Emerging evidence indicates that these signals regulate a variety of neuronal processes, from phenotypic expression to neurite outgrowth. Here we show that a single putative transmitter, vasoactive intestinal peptide, can exert multiple, long-term effects simultaneously: it stimulates mitosis, promotes neurite outgrowth and enhances survival of sympathetic neuron precursors in culture. As the peptide seems to be a normal presynaptic transmitter in the sympathetic system, synaptic transmission may exert hitherto unexpected effects.     

P物质及其mRNA在家兔圆小囊组织内表达的研究

P物质(substanee P,SP)是第一个被发现的脑肠肽类物质。大量研究表明SP在激发非特异性免疫调节和诱发炎症等方面发挥着重要的功能。家兔的圆小囊是兔特有的肠道粘膜免疫器官,在家兔的抗感染免疫中发挥着非常重要的作用。采用免疫组化和原位杂交的方法,显示了家兔圆小囊中的SP和其mRNA的分布和表达情况。免疫组织化学结果表明:在家兔的圆小囊粘膜层和黏膜下淋巴组织中存在有大量SP免疫组化阳性反应信号;原位杂交实验结果观察到的圆小囊淋巴组织的各个部位均有SP mRNA阳性反应信号出现,表明兔圆小囊淋巴组织中确实存在着产SP的细胞。