Pleiotropic Functions of PACAP in the CNS

Abstract

Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) is a pleiotropic neuropeptide that belongs to the secretin/glucagon/vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) family. PACAP prevents ischemic delayed neuronal cell death (apoptosis) in the hippocampus. PACAP inhibits the activity of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family, especially JNK/SAPK and p38, thereby protecting against apoptotic cell death. After the ischemia-reperfusion, both pyramidal cells and astrocytes increased their expression of the PACAP receptor (PAC1-R). Reactive astrocytes increased their expression of PAC1-R, released interleukin-6 (IL-6) that is a proinflammatory cytokine with both differentiation and growth-promoting effects for a variety of target cell types, and thereby protected neurons from apoptosis. These results suggest that PACAP itself and PACAP-stimulated secretion of IL-6 synergistically inhibit apoptotic cell death in the hippocampus. The PAC1-R is expressed in the neuroepithelial cells from early developmental stages and in various brain regions during development. We have recently found that PACAP, at physiological concentrations, induces differentiation of mouse neural stem cells into astrocytes. Neural stem cells were prepared from the telencephalon of mouse embryos and cultured with basic fibroblast growth factor. The PAC1-R immunoreactivity was demonstrated in the neural stem cells. When neural stem cells were exposed to PACAP, about half of these cells showed glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunoreactivity. This phenomenon was significantly antagonized by a PAC1-R antagonist (PACAP6-38), indicating that PACAP induces differentiation of neural stem cell into astrocytes. Other our physiological studies have demonstrated that PACAP acts on PAC1-R in mouse neural stem cells and its signal is transmitted to the PAC1-R-coupled G protein Gq but not to Gs. These findings strongly suggest that PACAP plays very important roles in neuroprotection in adult brain as well as astrocyte differentiation during development.

Recombinant novel pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide from African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) authenticates its biological function as a growth-promoting factor in low vertebrates

“…The high conservation of the PACAP peptide sequence throughout evolution points to an important role for this molecule . This finding is in agreement with the multiple biological functions described for this peptide, which include hypophysiotropic, neurotransmitter, neuromodulator, and vasoregulatory activities (Carlsson et al 1996, Wong et al 1998, Shioda et al 2006. The low conservation of the PRP sequence suggests that its function is less critical and could even be lost during evolution.…”

Protective Effects of PACAP in the Retina

“…Intraocular PACAP injection markedly attenuated diabetic retinal injury: increased levels of the anti-apoptotic p-Akt, p-ERK1, p-ERK2, PKC, Bcl-2, while decreased levels of the pro-apoptotic p-p38MAPK and activated caspases (8,3,12) were detected. The number of apoptotic cells increased in all nuclear layers of diabetic retinas, but signifi cantly decreased after PACAP treatment.…”

Stimulation of the cAMP pathway protects cultured cerebellar granule neurons against alcohol-induced cell death by activating the neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) gene

“…PKA exhibits neuroprotective effects against a variety of insults in a variety of neurons (Tanaka, 2001;Chiarini et al, 2002;Shioda et al, 2006). Our results demonstrate that PKA plays a critical role in the survival of cultured cerebellar granule neurons at baseline (in the absence of alcohol).…”