Structure of Neuropeptide Y
neuropeptide Y
Identifiers
Symbol(s)	NPY
Entrez	4852
OMIM	162640
RefSeq	NM_000905
UniProt	P01303
Other data
Locus	Chr. 7 p15.3

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a 36 amino acid peptide neurotransmitter found in the brain and autonomic nervous system. It augments the vasoconstrictor effects of noradrenergic neurons. Image File history File links Neuropeptide_Y.png‎ NMR solution structure of Neuropeptide Y Created by S. Jähnichen using KiNG kinemage Derived from the published structure (source: RCSB PDB Database (licence: http://www. ... Hugo is a masculine name. ... The Entrez logo The Entrez Global Query Cross-Database Search System allows access to databases at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) website. ... The Mendelian Inheritance in Man project is a database that catalogues all the known diseases with a genetic component, and - when possible - links them to the relevant genes in the human genome. ... The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is part of the US National Library of Medicine (NLM), which is a branch of the US National Institutes of Health. ... Swiss-Prot is a curated biological database of protein sequences created in 1986 by Amos Bairoch during his PhD and developed by the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and the European Bioinformatics Institute. ... Short and long arms Chromosome. ... Chromosome 7 is one of the 23 pairs of chromosomes in humans. ... Phenylalanine is one of the standard amino acids. ... Chemical structure of D-Aspartic Acid, a common Amino Acid neurotransmitter. ... In animals, the brain, or encephalon (Greek for in the head), is the control center of the central nervous system. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Neurons (also called nerve cells) are the primary cells of the nervous system. ...

NPY has been associated with a number of physiologic processes in the brain, including the regulation of energy balance, memory and learning, and epilepsy.^[1]

Role in regulation of feeding

NPY's role in regulating energy balance is well known. It forms part of the "lipostat" system along with leptin and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). High NPY levels in the cerebrospinal fluid are associated with high food intake and decreased physical activity. Leptin, produced by adipocytes in response to high fat levels is detected by the arcuate nucleus in the hypothalamus. Increased arcuate nucleus activity acts on the paraventricular nucleus to inhibit the production of NPY at that site, thus reducing feeding behaviour. Arcuate nucleus activity also stimulates the release of CRH which further decreases feeding and increases energy expenditure. Leptin is a 16 kDa protein hormone that plays a key role in regulating energy intake and energy expenditure, including the regulation of appetite and metabolism. ... Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), also called corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) or corticoliberin, is a polypeptide hormone involved in the stress response. ... Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), Liquor cerebrospinalis, is a clear bodily fluid that occupies the subarachnoid space in the brain (the space between the skull and the cerebral cortex—more specifically, between the arachnoid and pia layers of the meninges). ... Adipocytes are cells present in adipose tissue, specialized in storing energy as fat. ... The arcuate nucleus is an aggregation of neurons in the mediobasal hypothalamus, adjacent to the third ventricle and the median eminence. ... The paraventricular nucleus (PVN) is an aggregation of neurons in the hypothalamus, adjacent to the third ventricle. ...

Receptors

The receptor protein that NPY operates on is a G-protein coupled receptor in the rhodopsin like GPCR family. These receptors are metabotropic, causing metabolic changes in the target cell rather than directly opening ion channels. The protein contains seven membrane spanning domains and five subtypes have been identified in mammals, four of which are functional in humans.^[2] Subtypes Y1 and Y5 have known roles in the stimulation of feeding while Y2 and Y4 seem to have roles in appetite inhibition (satiety). Some of these receptors are among the most highly conserved neuropeptide receptors. In cell biology, G-protein-coupled receptors, also known as GPCR, seven transmembrane receptors, heptahelical receptors, or 7TM receptors, are a class of transmembrane receptors. ... A rhodopsin molecule (yellow) with bound retinal (orange), embedded in a cell membrane (lipids shown as green, head groups as red/blue). ... Metabotropic receptor is a transmembrane receptor, which starts some intracellular biochemical cascade after its activation by an agonistic ligand. ...

See also

• Antianalgesia
• Neuropeptide

Antianalgesia refers to the ability of some endogenous chemicals (notably cholecystokinin and neuropeptide Y) to counter the effects of exogenous analgesics (such as morphine) or endogenous pain inhibiting neurotransmitters/modulators, such as the endogenous opioids. ... A Neuropeptide is any of the variety of peptides found in neural tissue; e. ...

References

1. ^ Colmers, W.F. Epilepsy Curr. 2003 March;3(2):53-58
2. ^ Michel et al., Pharmacol. Rev. 50:143-150, 1998

• Carlson, N. R., Physiology of behaviour 6th edn., 1998, pp.393-398

External links

• EMBL receptor database entry