Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a peptide abundantly distributed throughout the central and peripheral nervous systems that plays a major role in controlling appetite, blood pressure, cardiac contractility, and intestinal secretion. Five subtypes of the NPY receptor have been identified. Subtypes Y1 and Y5 have known roles in the stimulation of feeding while Y2 and Y4 seem to have roles in satiety. NPY has also been shown to interact with the immune system, promoting gastrointestinal inflammation, as well as exhibiting an antimicrobial effect against several gut bacteria.
Neuropeptide Y (NPY) human has been used:
- to study the effect of antiepileptic effects on pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) rats.
- as a standard in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) standard and control to verify specificity of the antibodies.
- to study the effect of NPY on motor and electroencephalographic (EEG) seizures induced by kainic acid.
Neuropeptide Y is a regulatory molecule encoded by a gene mapped to human chromosome 7p15. Neuropeptide Y is a 36 amino acid protein with C-terminal α-amide structure. It is ubiquitously distributed in heart and brain, but at high levels in paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus, hypothalamic arcuate nucleus, suprachiasmatic nucleus, median eminence, dorsomedial, hypothalamic nucleus, paraventricular thalamic nuclei. NPY is a member of antimicrobial peptide family, which also include dermaseptins, cecropins or magainins.
Vasoconstrictor; brain peptide that inhibits Ca2+-activated K+ channels in vascular smooth muscle. Implicated in the control of blood pressure, sexual behavior and food intake. Inhibits cholecystokinin- and secretin-stimulated pancreatic secretion.
[1] BALASUBRAMANIAM A. Neuropeptide Y Family of Hormones: Receptor Subtypes and Antagonists[J]. Peptides, 1997, 18 3: Pages 445-457. DOI:
10.1016/s0196-9781(96)00347-6[2] PETER HOLZER Aitak F Florian Reichmann. Neuropeptide Y, peptide YY and pancreatic polypeptide in the gut–brain axis[J]. Neuropeptides, 2012, 46 6: Pages 261-274. DOI:
10.1016/j.npep.2012.08.005
