The hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (ARC) and the area postrema (AP) represent targets for hormonal and metabolic signals involved in energy homoeostasis, e.g. glucose, amylin, insulin, leptin, peptide YY (PYY), glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) and ghrelin. Orexigenic neuropeptide Y expressing ARC neurons are activated by food deprivation and inhibited by feeding in a nutrient-dependent manner. PYY...

Human amylin (hAmylin), a 37-amino acid pancreatic peptide, and amyloid beta protein (A beta), a 39-43 amino acid peptide, abundantly deposited in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, induce neurotoxicity in hippocampal and cortical cultures. Although the mechanism of this neurotoxicity is unknown, both peptides are capable of modulating ion channel function that may result in a disruption of ce...

We have proposed that a hyperstimulated insulin secretion causing β-cell degranulation is the basis for the impaired glucose-potentiated insulin secretion in type 2 diabetes ("overworked β-cell"). To confirm this idea, we previously investigated tolbutamide-infused euglycemic rats. Two novel kinds of β-cell dysfunction were observed: altered phasic glucose-potentiated insulin secretion with pre...

The anorectic effect of the pancreatic peptide amylin has been established in numerous studies. Here, we investigated the influence of a pretreatment with dopamine (DA) D(1)- and D(2)-receptor antagonists on the anorectic effect of intraperitoneally injected amylin in rats fed a medium-fat (18% fat) diet. In 24-h food-deprived rats, pretreatment with the DA D(2)-receptor antagonist raclopride [...

Analysis of receptor distributions for125I-labeled amylin,125I-labeled calcitonin, and125I-labeled calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in Macaca fascicularis kidney by in vitro autoradiography revealed distinct patterns of binding for each peptide.125I-rat amylin bound primarily to the cortex, being associated with the distal tubule, including apparent binding to the juxtaglomerular apparatu...

Evidence from rodent studies indicates that the beta-cell-derived neurohormone amylin exerts multiple effects on eating behavior, including reductions in meal size, intake of highly palatable foods, and stress-induced sucrose consumption. To assess the effect of amylin agonism on human eating behavior we conducted a randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled, multicenter study investigating the ef...

Adrenomedullin is a 52-amino acid vasodilator peptide produced in many tissues, including bone. It has 20% sequence identity with amylin, a regulator of osteoblast growth, and circulates in picomolar concentrations. The present study assesses whether adrenomedullin also acts on osteoblasts. At concentrations of 10-12 M and greater, adrenomedullin produced a dose-dependent increase in cell numbe...

A prerequisite for the homeostatic control of fat mass is the existence of peripheral hormones that, together with nervous afferents, signal the state of energy balance to adipostatic circuits in the brain. It is assumed that the effects of these signals are mediated, at least in part, by changes in key neurotransmitters, especially those located in the hypothalamus. It has been known for many ...

Human breast cell carcinoma MCF-7 cells were found to bind 125I-labeled rat amylin (rAmylin) and the peptide amylin antagonist radioligand 125I-AC512 with high affinity. This high affinity binding possessed characteristics unique to the already defined high affinity binding site for amylin in the rat nucleus accumbens [Mol. Pharmacol. 44:493-497 (1993); J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 270:779-787 (199...