Cited by 139Neuropeptides and Animal PhysiologyStress Responses and CortisolNeurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior

Neuropeptide and small transmitter coexistence: Fundamental studies and relevance to mental illness

Open access
Hökfelt, Tomas, Barde, Swapnali, Xu, Zhi-Qing David, Kuteeva, Eugenia, Rüegg, Joelle, Le Maitre, Erwan, Risling, Mårten, Kehr, Jan +10 more·2018·Frontiers in Neural Circuits

Abstract

Neuropeptide are auxiliary messenger molecules that always co-exist in nerve cells with one or more small-molecule (classic) neurotransmitters. Neuropeptides act both as transmitters and trophic factors, and play a role especially when the nervous system is challenged, as by injury, pain or stress. Here neuropeptides and coexistence in mammals are reviewed, but with special focus on the 29/30 amino acid galanin and its three receptors GalR1, -R2 and -R3. In particular, galanin’s role as a co-transmitter in both rodent and human noradrenergic locus coeruleus (LC) neurons is addressed. Extensive experimental animal data strongly suggest a role for the galanin system in depression–like behavior. The translational potential of these results was tested by studying the galanin system in human postmortem brains, first normal brains, and then by comparing five regions of brains obtained from depressed people who committed suicide, and from matched controls. It is hypothesized that, when exposed to severe stress, the noradrenergic LC neurons fire in bursts and release galanin from their soma/dendrites. Galanin then acts on somato-dendritic, inhibitory GalR3 autoreceptors, opening potassium channels and inhibiting firing. The purpose of these autoreceptors is to act as a ‘brake’ to prevent overexcitation, a brake that also is part of resilience to stress that protects against depression. Depression then arises when the inhibition is too strong and long lasting - a maladaption, allostatic load, leading to depletion of NA levels in the forebrain. It is suggested that disinhibition by a galanin GalR3 antagonist may have antidepressant activity by restituting forebrain NA levels. A role of galanin in depression is also supported by a recent candidate gene study, showing that variants in genes for galanin and its three receptors confer increased risk of depression and anxiety in people who experienced childhood adversity or recent negative life events. Taken together, the neuropeptide galanin, coexisting in LC neurons, may participate in the mechanism underlying resilience against a serious and common disorder, MDD. These results may lead to an increased understanding of how this illness develops which in turn can provide a basis for its treatment.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3389/fncir.2018.00106

Cites

620 of 620 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

5 of the 625 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 7

  1. Bremner J. D. Krystal J. H. Southwick S. M. Charney D. S. (1996b). Noradrenergic mechanisms in stress and anxiety: II. Clinical studies. Synapse 23 39– 51. 8723134
  2. Hokfelt T. Johansson O. Goldstein M. (1984). “Central catcholamine neurons as revelaed by immunohistochemistry with special reference to adrenaline neurons,” in Handbook of Chemical Neuroanatomy. Vol. 2: Classical Transmitters in the CNS eds Björklund A. Hokfelt T. (Amsterdam: Elsevier) 157– 276.
  3. Maes M. Meltzer H. Y. (1995). “The serotonin hypothesis of major depression,” in Psychopharmacology: The Fourth Generation of Progress eds Bloom F. Kupfer D. (New York, NY: Raven Press Ltd) 933– 944.
  4. Mutt V. (1989). Hormonal Peptides, Fidia Research Foundation Neuroscience Award Lectures. New York, NY: Raven Press 125– 218.
  5. O’Donnell D. F. M. Hoffert C. Hubatsch D. Pelletier M. Walker P. Ahmad S. (2003). “Localization of galanin receptor subtypes in the rat CNS,” in Handbook of Chemical Neuroanatomy Vol. 20 Peptide Receptors eds Quirion R. Bjorklnud A. Hokfelt T. (Amsterdam: Elsevier) 195– 244.
  6. Schatzberg A. S. Schildkraut J. J. (1995). “Recent studies on norepinephrine systems im mood disorders,” in Psychopharmacology: The Fourth Generation of Progress eds Bloom F. Kupfer D. (New York, NY: Raven Press) 911– 920.
  7. Steckler T. (2008). “Peptide receptor ligands to treat anxiety disorders,” in Handbook of Anxiety and Fear eds Blanchard D. C. Blanchard D. C. Griebel G. Nutt D. (Amsterdam: Elsevier) 157– 217.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Hökfelt, T., Barde, S., Xu, Z.-Q. D., Kuteeva, E., Rüegg, J., Le Maitre, E., Risling, M., Kehr, J., Ihnatko, R., Theodorsson, E., Palkovits, M., Deakin, W., Bagdy, G., Juhasz, G., Prud’homme, H. J., Mechawar, N., Diaz-Heijtz, R., & Ögren, S. O.
Affiliations
  • Karolinska Institutet (SE)
  • Linköping University (SE)
  • Douglas Mental Health University Institute (CA)
Corresponding author
Hökfelt, Tomas
Venue
Frontiers in Neural Circuits
Published
2018-12-21
Volume
12
Pages
106-106
ISSN
1662-5110 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2906160505
Cited by
139
References
625
Citations by year
2026: 14 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 23 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 1
FWCI
1.58
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Frontiers in Neural Circuits (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • Repository of the Academy's Library (Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
  • DiVA (Linkoping University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Torsten Söderbergs Stiftelse
  • National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression
  • Karolinska Institutet
  • Vetenskapsrådet (04X-2887)
  • Marcus och Amalia Wallenbergs minnesfond
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuropeptides and Animal Physiology
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Behavioral Neuroscience › Stress Responses and Cortisol
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior
Keywords
neuropeptides, co-transmission, galanin, galanin receptors, locus coeruleus, noradrenergic neurons, depression, major depressive disorder, stress resilience, allostatic load, postmortem brain, suicide, antidepressant mechanism, childhood adversity, anxiety, coexistence of neurotransmitters
MeSH terms
Animals, Mental Disorders, Humans, Locus Coeruleus, Neuropeptides, Receptors, Neurotransmitter, Neurotransmitter Agents

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review