Since neuropeptide Y (NPY) was first extracted from a mammalian brain in 1982 (Tatemoto et al., 1982), many studies have found that the npy mRNA is expressed in the central nervous system, peripheral nervous system and peripheral tissues of mammals and teleosts, with the highest expression in the brain (Chen and Li, 2005; Kehoe and Volkoff, 2007; Malmstrom, 2001; Murashita et al., 2009).
Identification, tissue distribution and evaluation of brain neuropeptide Y gene expression in the Brazilian flounder Paralichthys orbignyanus.
Attenuation of the obesity syndrome of ob/ob mice by the loss of
neuropeptide Y. Science 1996;274:1704-7.
Sundler, "
Neuropeptide Y co-exists and co-operates with noradrenaline in perivascular nerve fibers," Regulatory Peptides, vol.
Holzer, "
Neuropeptide Y: a stressful review," Neuropeptides, vol.
Neuropeptide Y modulates fracture healing through Y1 receptor signaling.
Neuropeptide Y (NPY) assumes several key roles in the brain's complex control circuits.
"We've known for quite some time that
neuropeptide Y is an endogenous [naturally occurring] anti-stress agent," said Markus Heilig, clinical director of the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).
Specifically, the study discovered that physiological detection of hypoxic (low oxygen) stress results in the activation of a hidden neuronal circuit involving the neuromodulators serotonin and the
neuropeptide Y receptor.
The gene, called npr-1, resembles human genes for proteins on the surface of brain cells that recognize
neuropeptide Y, the most potent eating stimulant yet identified in mammals (SN: 7/27/96, p.
Neuropeptide Y ranks among the most effective eating stimulants ever found.
Her studies in rats indicate that one of these chemicals, called
neuropeptide Y, causes carbohydrate erarings, while the other, called galanin, seems to underlie a yen for fat.
