Peptides and Psychiatry, Part 2:
Substance P and the Neurokinins:
Novel Peptide Neurotransmitters in Psychopharmacology
Issue: A new neurotransmitter system is a family of 3 related peptides known as neurokinins. The best known of these is substance P. The others are known simply as neurokinin A and neurokinin B. The specific receptor subtypes that correspond to these 3 neurokinins are neurokinin 1 receptors for substance P, neurokinin 2 receptors for neurokinin A, and neurokinin 3 receptors for neurokinin B. These neurotransmitters appear to play a key role in the regulation of emotions, and antagonists of their receptors may be novel psychotropic drugs of the future.
| This feature is the second of a 3-part
series on peptides and psychiatry. Part
1 appears as a visual lesson on neuropeptide
neurotransmitter synthesis, storage, and release in the
central nervous system.1 Part 2 is presented
here and explores a specific family of neuropeptides and
their receptors, known as neurokinins, of which substance
P is the best known example.2-4 Part 3 reviews interesting
developments with substance P antagonists as novel
antidepressants in a feature entitled "Substance P
and Serendipity: Novel Psychotropics Are a
Possibility."
|
References 1. Stahl SM. Peptides and psychiatry, part 1: how synthesis of neuropeptides differs from classical neurotransmitter synthesis. J Clin Psychiatry 1999;1:5-6 2. Feldman RS, Meyer JS, Quenzer LF. Principles of Neuropsychopharmacology. Sunderland, Mass: Sinauer Assoc; 1997 3. Otsuka M, Yoshioka IC. Neurotransmitter functions of mammalian tachykinins. Physiol Rev 1993;73:229-308 4. Cooper JF, Bloom FE, Roth RH. The Biochemical Basis of Neuropharmacology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press; 1996 Brainstorms aims to provide updates of novel concepts emerging from the neurosciences that have relevance to practitioners. From the Clinical Neuroscience Research Center in San Diego and the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California San Diego. |
