Bombesin-like peptides typically act as neurotransmitters along the brain-gut axis and as growth factors in various human tissues. The present study demonstrates the expression of gastrin releasing peptide (GRP)-preferring bombesin receptors in human renal cell carcinoma but not in normal kidney tissue. The expression of GRP receptors was characterized at the mRNA level by reverse transcription...

The gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRP-R) is a G protein-coupled receptor that mediates a variety of cellular responses, including cell growth and modulation of neuronal activity by activation of heterotrimeric GTP-binding proteins in the Gq family. To understand the regulation of GRP-R signaling we have substituted alanine for each of 10 amino acid residues within the transmembrane (TM) h...

To evaluate bladder function recovery after spinal cord injury (SCI) in response to a combination treatment of an acutely administered AMPA/kainate receptor antagonist and delayed transplantation of neuronal precursors. Female rats received a contusion injury at T8/9. The AMPA/kainate receptor antagonist NBQX was directly administered into the lesion site immediately after injury. Nine days pos...

Circadian rhythmicity in the primary mammalian circadian pacemaker, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus, is maintained by transcriptional and translational feedback loops among circadian clock genes. Photic resetting of the SCN pacemaker involves induction of the clock genes Period1 (Per1) and Period2 (Per2) and communication among distinct cell populations. Gastrin-releasing ...

Gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) is localized to hypothalamic neurons and is a potent inhibitor of basal and growth hormone (GH)-releasing factor-induced GH secretion in the rat. It also acts similarly to inhibit opiate- and stress-induced prolactin (PRL) release. To determine the physiological significance of the peptide in the control of the release of these two hormones, a highly specific ant...

Overexpression of heat shock protein 70 kDa alters the susceptibility of tumor cells to chemotherapeutic agents. We conducted experiments to study the regulation of expression of heat shock proteins (HSPs) in heat shock-treated T47-D cells, a human breast cancer cell line that expresses estrogen receptors. Cells exposed to heat shock at 44 degreesC displayed increased expression of heat shock p...

Recent studies support roles for neurokinin-1 (NK-1) and gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) receptor-expressing spinal neurons in itch. We presently investigated expression of substance P (SP) and GRP in pruritogen-responsive primary sensory neurons and roles for these neuropeptides in itch signaling. Responses of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) cells to various pruritogens were observed by calcium ima...

The main mammalian circadian pacemaker is located in the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) of the hypothalamus. Gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) and its receptor (BB(2)) are synthesized by rodent SCN neurons, but the role of GRP in circadian rhythm processes is unknown. In this study, we examined the phase-resetting actions of GRP on the electrical activity rhythms of hamster and rat SCN neurons in v...

The existence of bombesin/gastrin-releasing peptide-like immunoreactivity (BN-GRP-LI) in rat sensory ganglia and spinal cord was confirmed using immunocytochemistry, gel filtration chromatography, and high performance liquid chromatography combined with radioimmunoassay. Immunohistochemical studies showed that in the spinal sensory ganglia of the rat about 5% of the neurons exhibited BN-GRP-LI,...

Human small cell lung cancers (SCLC) produce and secrete the regulatory peptide bombesin (BN) or its mammalian counterpart gastrinreleasing peptide (GRP). In addition, several SCLC tumor lines have been shown to express high affinity receptors for BN/GRP. On the basis of these findings, we investigated the effect of exogenously added BN and GRP on the soft agarose colony growth of a panel of hu...