Hans-Christian Pape

University of Münster, Germany

Abstract

[O21] Neuropeptide S: A transmitter system in the brain regulating fear and anxiety

Hans-Christian Pape¹*, Kay Jüngling¹, Thomas Seidenbecher¹, Jörg Lesting1, Rainer K. Reinscheid^2,3,4; ¹Institute of Physiology I, Westfälische-Wilhelms University, Münster, Germany, ²Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, ³Department of Pharmacology, ⁴Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

The recently discovered Neuropeptide S (NPS) and its cognate receptor represent a highly interesting system of neuromodulation with unique physiological effects. On one hand, NPS increases wakefulness and arousal. On the other, NPS produces anxiolytic-like effects by acutely reducing fear responses as well as modulating long-term aspects of fear memory, such as attenuation of contextual fear or enhancement of fear extinction. The main sources of NPS in the brain are a few clusters of NPS-producing neurons in the brainstem. NPS binds to a G-protein-coupled receptor that is highly conserved among vertebrates and stimulates mobilization of intracellular Ca²⁺ as well as activation of protein kinases. In synaptic circuits within the amygdala, which are important for processing of acute fear as well as formation and expression of fear memories, NPS causes increased release of the excitatory transmitter glutamate, especially in synaptic contacts to a subset of GABAergic interneurons. Polymorphisms in the human NPS receptor gene have been associated with altered sleep behavior and panic disorder. In conclusion, the NPS system displays a unique physiological profile with respect to the specificity and time course of its actions. These functions could provide interesting opportunities for both basic research and clinical applications.

Keywords: Neuropeptide S, G-Protein-coupled receptor, Amygdala, Fear Behavior, Anxiety Disorder

Biography

Hans-Christian Pape, received his M.S. (Diploma) from Ruhr-University Bochum, and his PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) at the Medical Faculty of the University Essen. He was a postdoctoral fellow at SUNY Stony Brook, and at the Section of Neurobiology at Yale University, and an assistant professor at the Department of Neurophysiology at the Ruhr-University Bochum. He is acknowledged to be among the leaders in the field of neurophysiology of the amygdala, thalamus and related systems. Until recently, he was Professor of Physiology and Director, Department of Physiology, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg. Now he is Professor of Physiology and Director, Department of Physiology I, Westfaelische Wilhelms-University Muenster. He has been the spokesperson of the Collaborative Research Centre „Limbic Structures and Functions”, and now is the head of the Collaborative Research Centre “Fear, Anxiety and Anxiety Disorders”. He has been member of the Senate of the German Research Foundation, and he has received the Gottfried-Wilhelm-Leibniz-Award of the DFG and the Research Award of the Max-Planck-Society and Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation.