The respiratory tract is innervated by irritant-responsive sensory nerves, which, on stimulation, release tachykinin neuropeptides in the lung. Tachykinins modulate inflammatory responses to injury by binding to tachykinin (neurokinin) receptors present on various pulmonary cell types. In the present study, the activation of the proinflammatory transcription factor NF-kappaB in lung epithelial ...

To find new tachykinin NK1 receptor antagonists from natural sources, we examined the tachykinin antagonist activity in the extracts of approximately 200 species of plants by the use of isolated guinea pig ileum. As a result, we discovered a novel and potent NK1 receptor antagonist in the extract of dried flowers of Matricaria chamomilla L. (chamomile). The structure of the antagonist was estab...

A number of neuropeptides have been described which are present in the insect nervous system. The physiological role of these neuropeptides has not yet been clarified. We have characterized a Drosophila melanogaster cDNA coding for a protein, NKD, whose sequence resembles that of mammalian G protein-coupled neuropeptide receptors. This protein shows 38% homology with the mammalian tachykinin NK...

An arthropod-specific peptidergic system, the neuropeptide designated here as natalisin and its receptor, was identified and investigated in three holometabolous insect species: Drosophila melanogaster, Tribolium castaneum, and Bombyx mori. In all three species, natalisin expression was observed in 3-4 pairs of the brain neurons: the anterior dorso-lateral interneurons, inferior contralateral i...

Tachykinins play an important role in peripheral inflammatory diseases and disorders of the CNS. Most members of the tachykinin family are generated by alternative post-transcriptional splicing of the prepro-tachykinin (PPT) A gene. Here, we examined the simultaneous expression of PPT-A splice variants in individual neurones of the nodose ganglion. In extracts of ganglia, the expression of the ...

A tachykinin peptide was isolated from an extract of the intestine of the European green frog, Rana ridibunda, and its primary structure was established as: His-Lys-Leu-Asp-Ser-Phe-Ile-Gly-Leu-Met.CONH2. This sequence was confirmed by chemical synthesis and shows two amino acid substitutions (leucine for threonine at position 3 and isoleucine for valine at position 7) compared with neurokinin A...

Muscle injury and inflammation (myositis) in a rabbit model of an unilateral muscle overuse were examined. It is unknown if the tachykinin system has a functional role in this situation. In this study, therefore, the neurokinin-1 receptor (NK-1R) expression patterns were evaluated. White blood cells, nerve fascicles, fine nerve fibers, and blood vessel walls in myositis areas showed NK-1R immun...

The Tachykinin Receptor 2 (TACR2) located at chromosome 10q21.3 belongs to a class of receptors that bind members of the tachykinin neurotransmitter family. The TACR2 binds neurokinin A, also known as substance K, and is expressed in distinct parts of the human brain. Functionally, the TACR2 has been implicated in stress induced hippocampal acetylcholine release and the gene TACR2 is located wi...

Intestinal stem cells in the adult Drosophila midgut are regulated by growth factors produced from the surrounding niche cells including enterocytes and visceral muscle. The role of the other major cell type, the secretory enteroendocrine cells, in regulating intestinal stem cells remains unclear. We show here that newly eclosed scute loss-of-function mutant flies are completely devoid of enter...