Galanin and Addiction

Leptin receptor neurons in the mouse hypothalamus are colocalized with the neuropeptide galanin and mediate anorexigenic leptin action

“…Similarly, galanin neurons coexpressed the anorexigenic neuropeptides neurotensin and CART, again conflicting with an orexigenic galanin action. Galanin affects many biological systems from induction of food intake, reproduction to pain, and addiction (18,26,45,52). Another prominent feature of galanin is its inhibitory action (11,54,63).…”

“…Similarly, leptin (15, 16, 34 -36, 41), galanin (21,52), neurotensin (6,17,23,30), and CART (29,31,51) have all been associated with the control of reward as well as arousal behavior. Indeed, neurotensin-LepRb neurons modulate the reward system via orexin neurons, although it is still unknown by which mechanisms leptin inhibits orexin neurons (40).…”

Gender-Specific Association of Galanin Polymorphisms with HPA-Axis Dysregulation, Symptom Severity, and Antidepressant Treatment Response

“…As GAL has been implicated in the pathophysiology of anxiety as well as depression (reviewed in Kuteeva et al, 2008;Mechenthaler, 2008;Picciotto, 2008;Wrenn and Crawley, 2001) and because anxiety symptoms are common in patients with MDD (Fava et al, 2009), this study was extended to an MDD-inpatient sample. The use of this larger sample also allowed to stratify the analyses by menopausal status, as we hypothesized that the genderspecific genetic associations observed in the AD sample were driven by circulating estrogen levels.…”

“…The regulatory effect of GAL on neuroendocrine stress reactions and its involvement in anxious and depressive symptomatology have been thoroughly reviewed (Kuteeva et al, 2008;Mechenthaler, 2008;Picciotto, 2008;Wrenn and Crawley, 2001). It has been hypothesized that GAL affects stress-related behavior by interacting not only with monoaminergic neurotransmitters such as serotonin (5-HT) and noradrenaline, but also with g-aminobutyric acid (Fuxe et al, 1998;Kehr et al, 2002;Khoshbouei et al, 2002a;Ma et al, 2001;Sharkey et al, 2008;Tyszkiewicz et al, 2008;Xu et al, 1998).…”

Physiology, Signaling, and Pharmacology of Galanin Peptides and Receptors: Three Decades of Emerging Diversity

“…There are also experimental studies in both rats and WT and transgenic mice demonstrating a link between galanin receptor signaling and nicotine (see Jackson et al, 2011, for review), and opiates (see Picciotto, 2010, andHolmes et al, 2012, for review). For example, galanin-KO mice have reduced sensitivity to nicotine reward, and galanin-mediated signaling via GAL 1 blocks nicotine reward (Jackson et al, 2011;Neugebauer et al, 2011).…”