title: Pleiotropic functions of PACAP in the CNS: neuroprotection and neurodevelopment.
abstract: Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP) is a pleiotropic neuropeptide that belongs to the secretin/glucagon/vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) family. PACAP prevents ischemic delayed neuronal cell death (apoptosis) in the hippocampus. PACAP inhibits the activity of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family, especially JNK/SAPK and p38, thereby protecting against apoptotic cell death. After the ischemia-reperfusion, both pyramidal cells and astrocytes increased their expression of the PACAP receptor (PAC1-R). Reactive astrocytes increased their expression of PAC1-R, released interleukin-6 (IL-6) that is a proinflammatory cytokine with both differentiation and growth-promoting effects for a variety of target cell types, and thereby protected neurons from apoptosis. These results suggest that PACAP itself and PACAP-stimulated secretion of IL-6 synergistically inhibit apoptotic cell death in the hippocampus. The PAC1-R is expressed in the neuroepithelial cells from early developmental stages and in various brain regions during development. We have recently found that PACAP, at physiological concentrations, induces differentiation of mouse neural stem cells into astrocytes. Neural stem cells were prepared from the telencephalon of mouse embryos and cultured with basic fibroblast growth factor. The PAC1-R immunoreactivity was demonstrated in the neural stem cells. When neural stem cells were exposed to PACAP, about half of these cells showed glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunoreactivity. This phenomenon was significantly antagonized by a PAC1-R antagonist (PACAP6-38), indicating that PACAP induces differentiation of neural stem cell into astrocytes. Other our physiological studies have demonstrated that PACAP acts on PAC1-R in mouse neural stem cells and its signal is transmitted to the PAC1-R-coupled G protein Gq but not to Gs. These findings strongly suggest that PACAP plays very important roles in neuroprotection in adult brain as well as astrocyte differentiation during development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Showa University School of Medicine, 1-5-8 Hatanodai, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo 142-8555, Japan. shioda@med.showa-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Seiji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shioda
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohtaki
authors.forename: Tomoya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nakamachi
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dohi
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakajo
authors.forename: Satoru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arata
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kitamura
authors.forename: Hiromi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okuda
authors.forename: Fumiko
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Takenoya
authors.forename: Yoshitaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kitamura
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051219:Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents; D051219:Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide