Central neuropeptide W administration enhances memory retention

SANTIAGO BIANCONI; HELGI B. SCHIOTH; VALERIA PAOLA CARLINI; VERÓNICA DÍAZ; EMILSE ARTUR DE VILLARMOIS; MARIELA F PEREZ; MARIA BELEN PORETTI; MARTA FIOL DE CUNEO

Córdoba

Jornada; XVII Jornada de Investigación Científica de la Facultad de Ciencias Médicas. UNC.; 2016

SECyT-FCM-UNC

Neuropeptide W (NPW30) is a 30 amino acid peptide, recently discovered and it is produced throughout the body, particulary in brain areas known to be important in metabolic and autonomic regulation. NPW has been reported to be an important stress mediator in central nervous system that modulates hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic outflow. In addition, although several reports suggest that NPW is implicated in regulation of energy homeostasis, physiological role of NPW has remained unclear. In the present work we investigated the effect of intra-hippocampal NPW30 administration (3.0 and 0.3 nmol/µl) upon feeding behavior and memory retention in Wistar male rats, using step down and object recognition test. In our study, we have demonstrated that acute intra-hippocampal NPW30 administration enhances memory retention in step down test (H (2, 26) = 18.61; p≤0.05- latency time NPW30 = 180 sec vs. Control = 53.29 (48.25-62.75) sec), but does not induce changes in food intake (p>0.05). In addition, preliminary studies in our laboratory, also shown that NPW30 3.0 nmol/µl administration into the CA1 hippocampus decreases the threshold values to generate long term potentiation in electrophysiological studies.These results provide behavioral evidence that NPW30 may modulate higher brain functions, suggesting that the peptide influences memory processes that involve hippocampus and that hippocampus does not participate in NPW30 effects on hunger at studied doses.