Stimulation of canine hepatic nerves releases the neuropeptide galanin from the liver; therefore, galanin may be a sympathetic neurotransmitter in the dog liver. To test this hypothesis, we used immunocytochemistry to determine if galanin is localized in hepatic sympathetic nerves and we used hepatic sympathetic denervation to verify such localization. Liver sections from dogs were immunostaine...

The neuropeptide galanin has been shown to suppress epileptic seizures. In cortical and hippocampal areas, galanin is normally mainly expressed in noradrenergic afferents. We have generated a mouse overexpressing galanin in neurons under the platelet-derived growth factor B promoter. RIA and HPLC analysis revealed up to 8-fold higher levels of galanin in transgenic as compared with wild-type mi...

The role of the neuropeptide galanin in the regulation of anterior pituitary function was studied in vivo in conscious male rats and in vitro with cultured anterior pituitary cells. Galanin (50-200 ng; 15-60 pmol) injected into the third cerebral ventricle of rats produced highly significant, dose-related increases of plasma growth hormone (GH) concentrations, whereas galanin increased prolacti...

In order to further investigate the molecular mechanisms that regulate oligodendrocyte (OC) survival, we utilized microarrays to characterize changes in OC gene expression after exposure to the cytokines neurotrophin3, insulin, or leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) in vitro. We identified and validated the induction and secretion of the neuropeptide galanin in OCs, specifically in response to LIF...

The endogenous inhibitory role of the neuropeptide galanin in pain transmission and spinal cord excitability was demonstrated by the use of a high-affinity galanin receptor antagonist, M-35 [galanin-(1-13)-bradykinin-(2-9)-amide]. M-35, which displaced 125I-labeled galanin from membranes of rat dorsal spinal cord with an IC50 of 0.3 nM, dose-dependently antagonized the effect of intrathecal gal...

Expression of the neuropeptide galanin is known to be upregulated in the brain of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). We and others have shown that galanin plays a neuroprotective role in a number of excitotoxic injury paradigms, mediated by activation of the second galanin receptor subtype (GAL2). In the present study, we investigated whether galanin/GAL2 plays a similar protective role ag...

The search for antiepileptic drugs that are capable of blocking the progression of epilepsy (epileptogenesis) is an important problem of translational epilepsy research. The neuropeptide galanin effectively suppresses acute seizures. We examined the ability of hippocampal galanin receptor type 1 (GalR1) and type 2 (GalR2) to inhibit kindling epileptogenesis and studied signaling cascades that m...

The nociceptive response latencies were increased significantly after intra-periaqueductal grey (PAG) administration of 1.0 or 3.0 nmol of galanin, but not 0.3 nmol, in rats. The effect of galanin was attenuated by following injection of 5.5 nmol of naloxone into PAG. These results indicate an anti-nociceptive role of galanin, and a possible interaction between galanin and opioid peptides in PA...

Ethanol intake stimulates expression of galanin in several hypothalamic sites, including the paraventricular nucleus. Because injection of galanin in the paraventricular nucleus induces eating, we hypothesized that galanin might also affect ethanol intake. Rats were given ad libitum access to 4% ethanol for 4 weeks and assigned to one of two groups according to levels of ethanol consumption: hi...

Sarnelli, Giovanni, Pieter Vanden Berghe, Petra Raeymaekers, Jozef Janssens, and Jan Tack. Inhibitory effects of galanin on evoked [Ca ]i responses in cultured myenteric neurons. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 286: G1009–G1014, 2004. First published January 22, 2004; 10.1152/ajpgi.00255.2003.—Galanin modulates gastrointestinal motility by inhibiting the release of ACh from enteric neur...