Much research has focused on pathways leading to opiate addiction. Pathways opposing addiction are more difficult to study but may be critical in developing interventions to combat drug dependence and withdrawal. Galanin decreases firing of locus coeruleus neurons, an effect hypothesized to decrease signs of opiate withdrawal. The current study addresses whether galanin affects morphine withdra...

The neuropeptide galanin is widely expressed by many differing subsets of neurons in the nervous system. There is a marked upregulation in the levels of the peptide in a variety of nerve injury models and in the basal forebrain of humans with Alzheimer's disease. Here we demonstrate that galanin expression is specifically and markedly upregulated in microglia both in multiple sclerosis (MS) les...

Galanin is a neuropeptide with a wide variety of biological functions, including that of a strong endogenous anticonvulsant. No nonpeptide ligands, capable of activating galanin receptors, are available today. Based on known pharmacophores of galanin, a combinatorial library was designed, synthesized, and screened at the rat hippocampal galanin receptor. A low molecular weight galanin receptor ...

The galanin N-terminal fragment [galanin-(1-16)] has been prepared by solid-phase synthesis and by enzymic cleavage of galanin by endoproteinase Asp-N. This peptide fragment displaced 125I-labeled galanin in receptor autoradiography experiments on rat forebrain and spinal cord and in equilibrium binding experiments from high-affinity binding sites in the ventral hippocampus with an IC50 of appr...

Galanin inhibits the release of several neurotransmitters and produces performance deficits in a variety of spatial and aversive learning and memory tasks. The experiments in this study investigated the role galanin has in emotional learning and memory using a standard delay cued and contextual fear conditioning task. Rats were administered galanin into the lateral ventricles before training, a...

The multitalented neuropeptide galanin was first discovered 30 years ago but initially no biologic activity was found. Further research studies discovered the presence of galanin in the brain and some peripheral tissues, and galanin was identified as a modulator of neurotransmission in the central and peripheral nervous system. Over the last decade there were performed very intensive studies of...

The neuropeptide galanin is widely distributed throughout the central and peripheral nervous systems and participates in the regulation of processes such as nociception, cognition, feeding behavior, and insulin secretion. Multiple galanin receptors are predicted to underlie its physiological effects. We now report the isolation by expression cloning of a rat galanin receptor cDNA distinct from ...

Galanin has diverse physiological functions, including nociception, arousal/sleep regulation, congnition, and many aspects of neuroendocrine activities that are associated with feeding, energy metabolism, thermoregulation, osmotic and water balance, and reproduction. In an attempt to clarify the metabolic profile of circulating galanin in blood, we examined plasma galanin concentration in patie...

The neuropeptide galanin and its three receptor subtypes (GalR1-3) are expressed in the central amygdala (CeA), a brain region involved in stress- and anxiety-related behaviors, as well as alcohol dependence. Galanin also has been suggested to play a role in alcohol intake and alcohol dependence. We examined the effects of galanin in CeA slices from wild-type and knockout (KO) mice deficient of...

We recently found lumbosacral sympathetic ganglionic galanin neurons innervating the quail uterine oviduct. Galaninergic innervation of the uterine muscle may be essential for avian oviposition, as galanin evoked oviposition through a mechanism of induction of vigorous uterine contraction. The questions arising from these findings are: what changes occur in galanin expression in the sympathetic...