The first PP supper--Camelot at Bispebjerg

In the early seventies of the last century, in a temporary building called "Sukkertoppen" at Bispebjerg Hospital, a group of devoted, young medical doctors and a couple of students together with a team of highly skilled laboratory technicians gathered around the "senior" Jens F. Rehfeld, who had barely turned thirty years of age. Each person got his own peptide, raised antibodies, iodinated the peptide and established a radioimmunoassay with which he could then conquer the world of gastrointestinal hormones. It was a unique time, where old hormones had just been chemically characterized and could now be subjected to immunochemical measurements and characterization for the first time. It was also a period when a whole host of new biologically active peptides were being discovered, and basically anything you did with "your" peptide was exciting news for the scientific community. The concept of neuropeptides was being established and Jens Frederik and his brave scientific knights were in the middle of it all. The period ended in the summer of 1976, when Rehfeld moved his court to the University of Aarhus and the others scattered--each to establish their own scientific group.

Substance P: a pioneer amongst neuropeptides

A brief overview of recent developments in the substance P field is provided, in addition to a historical introduction. It is emphasized that there are multiple tachykinins and tachykinin receptors and that there are examples of coexistence of several tachykinin peptides and of several tachykinin receptors in single cells, and there is evidence for tachykininergic cotransmission. The distribution and functional significance of tachykinins in the gastrointestinal tract and in sensory neurones, and interactions with other peptides and transmitters, are reviewed. The recent production of knock-out mice for either substance P or the NK1 receptor is discussed, as well as the exciting concept of substance P receptor internalization. Finally, the development of specific substance P antagonists is summarized, and possible clinical implications discussed, and, in particular, a recent study which reports that a substance P antagonist shows clinical efficacy in depression.