A porcine gut polypeptide identical to the pancreatic hormone PP (pancreatic polypeptide)

GIP1–39, a novel insulinotropic peptide form and aspects on its mechanism of action

GIP1-39, a novel chain-length form of GIP (gastric inhibitory polypeptide or glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide), has been purified recently from porcine intestine and found to exist abundantly in this tissue. We have characterized that GIP1-39 is an insulinotropic peptide, and demonstrated that GIP1-39 is more potent in stimulating insulin secretion from rat pancreatic islets than GIP1-42, the insulinotropic polypeptide reported originally. Therefore, we have further investigated some aspects on the mechanism behind the insulinotropic effect of GIP1-39 in single rat pancreatic beta cells. GIP1-39 at 100 nM was able to significantly increase intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i), and capable of enhancing exocytosis assessed by membrane capacitance measurement. The novel GIP1-39 might be a more optimal molecular pattern in stimulating insulin secretion and deserves to be further investigated biologically and clinically.

Pancreatic response to mild non-insulin-induced hypoglycemia does not involve extrinsic neural input

Mild non-insulin-induced hypoglycemia achieved by administration of a glycogen phosphorylase inhibitor results in increased glucagon and decreased insulin secretion in conscious dogs. Our aim was to determine whether the response of the endocrine pancreas to this mild hypoglycemia can occur in the absence of neural input to the pancreas. Seven dogs underwent surgical pancreatic denervation (PDN [study group]), and seven dogs underwent sham denervation (control [CON] group). Each study consisted of a 100-min equilibration period, a 40-min control period, and a 180-min test period. At the start of the test period, Bay R3401 (10 mg/kg), a glycogen phosphorylase inhibitor, was administered orally. Arterial plasma glucose (mmol/l) fell to a similar minimum in CON (5.0 +/- 0.1) and PDN (4.9 +/- 0.3). Arterial plasma insulin also fell to similar minima in both groups (CON, 20 +/- 6 pmol/l; PDN, 14 +/- 5 pmol/l). Arterial plasma glucagon rose to a similar maximum in CON (73 +/- 8 ng/l) and PDN (72 +/- 9 ng/l). Insulin and glucagon secretion data support these plasma hormone results, and there were no significant differences in the responses in CON and PDN for any parameter. Pancreatic norepinephrine content in PDN was only 4% of that in CON, confirming successful sympathetic denervation. Pancreatic polypeptide levels tended to increase in CON and decrease in PDN in response to mild hypoglycemia, indicative of parasympathetic denervation. It thus can be concluded that the responses of alpha- and beta-cells to mild non-insulin-induced hypoglycemia can occur in the absence of extrinsic neural input.

cNeuropeptide Y family of peptides: Structure, anatomical expression, function, and molecular evolution

Evolutionary relationships between neuroendocrine peptides are often difficult to resolve across divergent phyla due to independent duplication events in different lineages. Thanks to peptide purification and molecular cloning in many different species, the situation is beginning to clear for the neuropeptide Y (NPY) family, which also includes peptide YY (PYY), the tetrapod pancreatic polypeptide (PP) and the fish pancreatic peptide Y (PY). It has long been assumed that the first duplication to occur in vertebrate evolution generated NPY and PYY, as both of these are found in all gnathostomes as well as lamprey. Evidence from other gene families show that this duplication was probably a chromosome duplication event. The origin of a second PYY peptide found in lamprey remains to be explained. Our recent cloning of NPY, PYY and PY in the sea bass proves that fish PY is a separate gene product. We favour the hypothesis that PY is a duplicate of the PYY gene and that it may have occurred late in fish evolution, as PY has so far only been found in acanthomorph fishes. Thus, this duplication seems to be independent of the one that generate PP from PYY in tetrapods, although both tetrapod PP and fish PY are expressed in the pancreas. Studies in the sea bass and other fish show that PY, in contrast to PP, is expressed in the nervous system. We review the literature on the distribution and functional aspects of the various NPY-family peptides in vertebrates.

Key words: neuropeptide Y, pancreatic polypeptide, fish pancreatic peptide, gene duplication.

The cloned guinea pig pancreatic polypeptide receptor Y4 resembles more the human Y4 than does the rat Y4

Pancreatic polypeptide (PP) is involved in gastrointestinal functions and forms, together with neuropeptide Y (NPY) and peptide YY (PYY), the PP-fold family of peptides. The PP-binding receptor subtype Y4 has so far been cloned in human, rat, and mouse, and displays extensive species differences regarding sequence, pharmacology, and distribution. To explore this variability further, we have cloned the Y4 receptor in the guinea pig, which is evolutionarily equally distantly related to both humans and rodents. The guinea pig Y4 receptor is 84% identical to the human Y4 receptor, but only 74-75% identical to the rat and mouse receptors. The two latter are 75-76% identical to human Y4. The guinea pig Y4 receptor bound 125I-hPP with a dissociation constant (Kd) of 29+/-3 pM. The pharmacological profile of guinea pig Y4 has the following rank order of potencies: PP > NPY approximately = PYY approximately = LP-NPY approximately = LP-PYY > NPY2-36 >> [D-Trp32]NPY. Thus, the guinea pig receptor is more similar to the human Y4 than to the rat Y4 both in sequence and pharmacology. This agrees with the greater identity between guinea pig and human PP compared to rat PP. These comparisons suggest that the rodent PPs and Y4 receptors have an accelerated replacement rate.

Identification, isolation, and characterization of daintain (allograft inflammatory factor 1), a macrophage polypeptide with effects on insulin secretion and abundantly present in the pancreas of prediabetic BB rats

A bioactive macrophage factor, the polypeptide daintain/allograft inflammatory factor 1 (AIF1), has been isolated from porcine intestine. It was discovered when searching for intestinal peptides with effects on insulin release, and its purification was monitored by the influence of the peptide fractions on pancreatic glucose-induced insulin secretion. Daintain/AIF1 is a 146-aa residue polypeptide with a mass of 16,603 Da and an acetylated N terminus. An internal 44-residue segment with the sequence pattern -KR-KK-GKR- has a motif typical of peptide hormone precursors, i.e., dibasic sites for potential activation cleavages and at the sequentially last such site, the structure GKR. The latter is a signal for C-terminal amide formation in the processing of peptide hormones. Daintain/AIF1 is immunohistochemically localized to microglial cells in the central nervous system and to dendritic cells and macrophages in several organs. A particularly dense accumulation of daintain/AIF1-immunoreactive macrophages was observed in the insulitis affecting the pancreatic islets of prediabetic BB rats. When injected intravenously in mice, daintain/AIF1 at 75 pmol/kg inhibited glucose (1 g/kg)-stimulated insulin secretion, with a concomitant impairment of the glucose elimination, whereas at higher doses (7.5 and 75 nmol/kg), daintain/AIF1 potentiated glucose-stimulated insulin secretion and enhanced the glucose elimination. Its dual influence on insulin secretion in vivo at different peptide concentrations, and the abundance of macrophages expressing daintain/AIF1 in the pancreatic islets of prediabetic rats, suggest that daintain/AIF1 may have a role in connection with the pathogenesis of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

The cloned rat pancreatic polypeptide receptor exhibits profound differences to the orthologous receptor

Pancreatic polypeptide (PP) is produced in the islets of Langerhans and released in response to meals. It belongs to a family of peptides that also includes neuropeptide Y and peptide YY. In the present communication, we describe a rat receptor with high affinity for PP, therefore named PP1. Clones for the PP1 receptor were obtained by PCR using sequence information for the neuropeptide Y receptor Y1 from several species. The PP1 receptor has 46% overall amino acid sequence identity to the rat Y1 receptor and 56% identity in the transmembrane regions. The PP1 receptor displays a pharmacological profile that is distinct from previously described neuropeptide Y-family receptors. In competition with iodinated bovine PP, it binds rat PP with an affinity (K(i)) of 0.017 nM, while the affinities for peptide YY and neuropeptide Y are substantially lower with K(i) values of 162 and 192 nM, respectively. In stably transfected CHO cells, the PP1 receptor inhibits forskolin-stimulated cAMP synthesis. Northern blot hybridizations to a panel of mRNAs detected transcripts in testis and lung. A faint band was seen in colon and total brain. In contrast, the human receptor is expressed primarily in colon and small intestine. Whereas rat and human PP1 bind PP with the same affinity, the rat receptor has much lower affinity than its human ortholog for peptide YY and neuropeptide Y. Interestingly, the amino acid sequence identity between rat and human PP1 is only 75%. Thus, the sequence, the tissue distribution, and the binding profile of the PP1 receptor differ considerably between rat and human.

Evolution of neuropeptide Y, peptide YY and pancreatic polypeptide

The neuropeptide Y family of peptides consists of neuropeptide Y (NPY), which is expressed in the central and peripheral nervous systems, and peptide YY (PYY) and pancreatic polypeptide (PP) which are gut endocrine peptides. All three peptides are 36 amino acids long and act on G-protein-coupled receptors. NPY and PYY are present in all vertebrates, whereas PP probably arose as a copy of PYY in an early tetrapod ancestor. NPY is one of the most conserved peptides during evolution and no gnathostome (jawed) species differs from the ancestral gnathostome sequence at more than five positions. PYY is more variable, particularly in mammals which have nine differences to the gnathostome ancestor. PP may be the most rapidly evolving neuroendocrine peptide among tetrapods with only 50% identity between mammals, birds, and amphibians. Ancestral gnathostome NPY and PYY seem to have differed at only four positions, suggesting that the gene duplication occurred shortly before the appearance of the gnathostomes. The two peptides differ from one another at 9-12 positions in tetrapod species and share at least two receptor subtypes in mammals. In bony and cartilaginous fishes, NPY and PYY have only 5-6 differences which, together with more extensive neuronal localization of PYY, indicate an even greater functional overlap between the two peptides in these animal groups. The emergence of sequence information for several receptor subtypes from various species will shed additional light on the evolution of the functions of the NPY-family peptides.

Pancreatic polypeptide, microinjected into the dorsal vagal complex, potentiates glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in the rat

Specific binding sites for circulating pancreatic polypeptide (PP) have been found within the dorsal vagal complex (DVC) in the caudal medulla oblongata. Therefore, the effects of rat PP on pancreatic hormone secretion upon its microinjection into the DVC in halothane-anesthetized rats at doses of 0.4-40 pmol were investigated. At this range of doses, the changes in plasma concentrations of insulin, glucagon and glucose over basal levels did not differ from those after vehicle microinjection. In a separate series of experiments, vehicle and PP at doses of 0.4 and 4 pmol were microinjected into the right DVC 40 min after the continuous infusion of D-glucose had been started. In animals receiving continuous infusion of D-glucose, PP microinjected into the DVC (4 pmol), resulted in markedly higher insulin levels at corresponding time points compared to those with vehicle microinjected into the DVC. These data indicate, for the first time, that microinjection of PP into the DVC may potentiate glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in halothane-anesthetized rats.