Image of a sculpture by Penny Hardy portraying the explosive anticipation your first kiss.

Recent studies have suggested that the kisspeptin (KP) and kissorphin (KSO) peptides have neuroprotective actions against the Alzheimer's amyloid- β (A β ) peptide. Overexpression of the human KiSS-1 gene that codes for KP and KSO peptides in SH-SY5Y neurons has also been shown to inhibit A β neurotoxicity. The in vivo actions of KP include activation of neuroendocrine and neurotransmitter syst...

BACKGROUND RFamide-related peptide-3 (RFRP-3) and kisspeptin (KiSS-1) are known to respectively inhibit and stimulate gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) and lute- inizing hormone (LH) secretion in rat. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relative mRNA expression of RFRP-3 and KiSS-1 in the hypothalamus of pregnant rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS In a randomized controlled experime...

Preeclampsia (PE) is a heterogeneous syndrome affecting 2% to 8% of all pregnancies and is the world's leading cause of fetal and maternal morbidity and mortality. In many cases of PE, shallow trophoblast invasion results in inappropriate maternal spiral artery remodeling and impaired placental function. Multiple genes have been implicated in trophoblast invasion, among which are KiSS-1 and GPR...

Purpose Accumulating evidence indicates that hypothalamic kisspeptin plays a pivotal role in the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. In this study, the direct action of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)A receptor agonist on kisspeptin-expressing neuronal cells was examined. Methods A hypothalamic cell model of rat hypothalamic cell line R8 (rHypoE8) cells and primary...

In this issue of Neuron, Harata et al. use a novel quenching technique to provide compelling evidence that kiss-and-run is the dominant mode of vesicle fusion at hippocampal synapses and that the prevalence of kiss-and-run can be modulated by stimulus frequency. The increased incidence of kiss-and-run at lower frequencies may ensure that vesicles are available for use during periods of high dem...

PURPOSE Leptin has been considered a link between metabolic state and reproductive activity. Defective reproductive function can occur in leptin-deficient and leptin-excessive conditions. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of centrally injected leptin on the hypothalamic KiSS-1 system in relation to gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) action in the initial stage of puberty. ME...

Kisspeptin (KISS) plays a key role in regulating reproduction by binding to its receptor, GPR54. Because of the Arg-Phe (RF) sequence at its carboxyl terminus, KISS has been proposed to be a member of the RF-amide peptide family consisting of neuropeptide FF (NPFF), neuropeptide VF (NPVF), pyroglutamylated RF-amide peptide (QRFP), and prolactin-releasing hormone (PRLH). Evolutionary relationshi...

In order to investigate how photoperiod affects the expression of KiSS-1/G-protein-coupled receptor 54 (GPR54), the hypothalamus, the ovaries and testicles of the striped hamster were studied following photoperiod treatment and melatonin injection. We found that the melatonin concentration in the blood of the striped hamster was consistent with the treated photoperiods and that the photoperiod ...