title: Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 attenuates disturbances induced by neuroleptics: the effect on catalepsy and gastric ulcers in mice and rats.
abstract: A gastric pentadecapeptide, BPC 157, with the amino acid sequence, Gly-Glu-Pro-Pro-Pro-Gly-Lys-Pro-Ala-Asp-Asp-Ala-Gly-Leu-Val, MW 1419, known to have a variety of protective effects in gastrointestinal tract and other organs, was recently shown to particularly affect dopamine systems. For instance, it blocks the stereotypy produced acutely by amphetamine in rats, and the development of haloperidol-induced supersensitivity to amphetamine in mice. Consequently, whether pentadecapeptide BPC 157, that by itself has no cataleptogenic effect in normal animals, may attenuate the immediate effects of neuroleptics application, particularly catalepsy, was the focus of the present report. Prominent catalepsy, otherwise consistently seen in the mice treated with haloperidol (0.625, 1.25, 2.5, 5.0 and 10.0 mg/kg b.w., i.p.) and fluphenazine (0.3125, 0.625, 1.25, 2.5 and 5.0 mg/kg b.w., i.p.) after 1.5, 3, 4.5, 6 and 7.5 h following administration, was markedly attenuated when pentadecapeptide BPC 157 (10 microg or 10 ng/kg b.w., i.p.) was coadministered with the neuroleptic. The number of cataleptic mice was markedly lower throughout most of the experimental period. Moreover, on challenge with lower doses of neuroleptics, catalepsy appearance was postponed and the mice, otherwise cataleptic since the earliest period, became cataleptic later, not before 3 or 4.5 h after neuroleptic administration, especially if protected with higher pentadecapeptide dose. Besides catalepsy, coadministration of the pentadecapeptide BPC 157, given in the above mentioned doses, reduced not only catalepsy but somatosensory disorientation (for 7.5 h after administration of a neuroleptic, assessed at intervals of 1.5 h, by a simple scoring system [0-5]) in haloperidol- or fluphenazine-challenged mice as it did in mice treated with sulpiride (20, 40, 80 and 160 mg/kg b.w., i.p.) or with clozapine (25, 50 and 100 mg/kg b.w., i.p.), in which case catalepsy was absent. In other experiments, considering the gastric origin of this pentadecapeptide, the focus was shifted to the evidence that a dose of haloperidol, cataleptogenic due to dopamine receptors blockade, induces gastric ulcers in rats. Coadministration of pentadecapeptide BPC 157 (10 microg, 10 ng, 1.0 ng, 100 pg/kg b.w., i.p.) to rats completely inhibited the lesions otherwise regularly evident 24 h after haloperidol (5.0 mg/kg b.w., i.p.) in control rats (18 of 20 rats had gastric lesions). This activity accompanied the antagonism of the haloperidol catalepsy in rats (assessed at 60-min intervals from I to 5 h after haloperidol), when 10-microg- or 10-ng regimens were given (lower doses could not influence catalepsy). Together, these findings indicate that pentadecapeptide BPC 157 fully interacts with the dopamine system, both centrally and peripherally, or at least, that BPC 157 interferes with some steps involved in catalepsy and/or ulcer formation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Medical Faculty University of Zagreb, Croatia.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jelovac
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sikiric
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rucman
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Petek
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marovic
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Perovic
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seiwerth
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mise
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Turkovic
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dodig
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Miklic
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Buljat
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Prkacin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000897:Anti-Ulcer Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000494:pharmacology; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D002375:Catalepsy / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003024:Clozapine / Q000494:pharmacology; D018492:Dopamine Antagonists / Q000633:toxicity; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004347:Drug Interactions; D005476:Fluphenazine / Q000633:toxicity*; D006220:Haloperidol / Q000633:toxicity*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009949:Orientation / Q000187:drug effects; D010437:Peptic Ulcer / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000517:prevention & control*; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011506:Proteins / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013469:Sulpiride / Q000494:pharmacology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000897:Anti-Ulcer Agents; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D018492:Dopamine Antagonists; D010446:Peptide Fragments; D011506:Proteins; D013469:Sulpiride; C083833:BPC 157; D003024:Clozapine; D006220:Haloperidol; D005476:Fluphenazine