The intracellular mechanisms whereby the inhibitory neurotransmitter neuropeptide Y (NPY) decreases ciliary beat frequency (CBF) were investigated in cultured human tracheal and bronchial ciliated cells. CBF was measured by nonstationary analysis laser light scattering. NPY at 1 and 10 μM decreased CBF from a baseline of 6.7 ± 0.5 ( n = 12) to 6.1 ± 0.5 ( P < 0.05) and 5.8 ± 0.4 ( P < 0.01) Hz,...

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a key factor in the neurochemical control of food intake, and obstructive cholestasis can be associated with disturbances in food intake. Our aim in this study was to determine whether obstructive cholestasis in the rat is associated with defective central responsiveness to NPY. Cholestasis was induced in rats by surgical bile duct resection. Rats with obstructive choles...

1. The effects and binding characteristics of a series of chimeric galanin-neuropeptide Y (NPY) peptides were examined in various preparations known to contain a predominant population of either Y1 or Y2 receptors for NPY or galanin receptors. 2. NPY suppressed the electrically stimulated twitches of the rat vas deferens (Y2 receptors), while galanin enhanced the electrically stimulated twitche...

To determine whether neuropeptide Y (NPY)-related mechanisms become activated with progression of cardiac hypertrophy in vivo, protein mass and de novo protein synthesis (incorporation of [(14)C]Phe, 0.1 muCi ml(-1)) were assessed in cardiomyocytes, obtained from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) and normotensive Wistar Kyoto rats (8, 12, 16, 20, and 24 weeks of age), and cultured for 24 h...

Zinc deficiency reduces intake and produces an unusual approximately 3.5-d cycle of intake in rats. The mechanism underlying the anorexia and cycling has not yet been defined; current hypotheses suggest that alterations in amino acid metabolism and neurotransmitter concentrations may be a part of this anorexia. Recent reports indicate that appetite-stimulating neuropeptide Y (NPY) may be elevat...

Acetylcholine stimulation of bovine chromaffin cells results in increased norepinephrine and epinephrine secretion accompanied by a corresponding increase in synthesis. The addition of neuropeptide Y (NPY) to the culture medium prevents the increase in catecholamine synthesis but not secretion. Treatment of chromaffin cells with nicotine produces a concentration-dependent increase in tyrosine h...

Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) undergo bouts of daily torpor during which body temperature decreases by as much as 20 degrees C and provides a significant savings in energy expenditure. Natural torpor in this species is normally triggered by winterlike photoperiods and low ambient temperatures. Intracerebroventricular injection of neuropeptide Y (NPY) reliably induces torporlike hypother...

Adult rat sympathetic neurons can possess specific neuropeptides utilized as cotransmitters along with norepinephrine, but the factors that regulate their expression remain unknown. 60% of adult rat superior cervical ganglion (SCG) neurons express neuropeptide Y (NPY) in vivo. To determine whether the restricted expression was an intrinsic property of sympathetic ganglia, we examined if embryon...

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is expressed in the hypothalamus where it exerts orexigenic actions within the feeding control circuit. While NPY stimulates feeding in juvenile and adult animals, it is not known whether NPY influences food intake at earlier life stages. We investigated a role for NPY in regulating feeding at two stages of the life cycle of an amphibian, the Western spadefoot toad Spea ham...

We examined the effects of peptides of the neuropeptide Y (NPY)/pancreatic polypeptide (PP) family on synaptic transmission in the arcuate nucleus in rat hypothalamic slices. Application of NPY produced two effects. In some cells NPY produced an outward current that had the properties of a K+ current. NPY also inhibited the evoked glutamatergic EPSC recorded in these arcuate neurons by a presyn...