Pulsatile peptide secretion: encoding of brain messages regulating endocrine and reproductive functions

Environmental Health Perspectives
A Negro-VilarG Wisniewski

Abstract

Neuropeptides are defined chemical messengers produced by the brain to modulate its own activity and also to regulate the function of every organ system. These neuropeptides can be viewed as coded chemical signals produced by the brain and secreted into the blood or into other fluids, such as the cerebrospinal fluid, to be transported and to act at a distant site. The signals arrive to the target organ or sometimes to an intermediary station, such as the pituitary gland, where they are decoded, transformed into a more powerful signal, and sent again through the general circulation to reach their final target. Our work has characterized the episodic or pulsatile pattern of secretion of a number of peptide hormones produced by the brain or the pituitary gland and analyzed the brain mechanisms involved in the generation of such a pulsatile pattern of hormone secretion. Molecular biology approaches have provided information on the synthesis, processing, and secretion of these brain messengers. In addition, using computer-assisted perifusion systems, we have been able to reproduce in vitro some of the signals produced by the brain and are currently trying to decode the message carried by those signals, as well as determining the int...Continue Reading

References

Jan 1, 1987·Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences·A Del ReyC A Dinarello
Jan 1, 1986·Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences·H G GratznerA A Yunis
Oct 1, 1984·Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology·M A SmithW W Vale

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Citations

May 17, 2018·Stress : the International Journal on the Biology of Stress·Julia K GjerstadFrancesca Spiga

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