Current Evidence for a Role of Neuropeptides in the Regulation of Autophagy

Table 1

Autophagy modulation of selected neuropeptides.

Compound	Role on autophagy	Targets (cell/tissue)	Effects of	Potential therapeutic applications
PACAP	Inhibition	Human SH-SY5Y cells; mouse brain	Decreasing apoptosis; preservation of mitochondrial activity; neuroprotection	Parkinson disease
SP		Mouse skin; Wistar rat bladder	Hair cycle alteration; apoptosis	Psychological stress conditions; bladder disorders
NPY	Activation	Rat/mouse cortical/hypothalamic neurons; mouse hypothalamus	Neuroprotection	Control of feeding; metabolic syndrome; aging; neurodegenerative diseases
Ghrelin	Activation	Mouse skeletal muscle; rat cortical neurons	Restoring insulin signalling; neuroprotection	Diabetes; aging
Ghrelin	Inhibition	Rat H9c2 cells; human HO-8910 cells; mouse liver	Cell survival and size maintenance; reducing cell proliferation; apoptosis; decreasing expression of pathological markers	Heart failure; ovarian cancer; liver fibrosis
Leptin	Activation	Human HepG2 cells; human MCF-7 cells; HepG2 tumour xenografts	Tumour growth; tumour invasion; decreasing apoptosis	Obesity-associated breast and hepatic cancers
SRIF	Activation	Human GH-secreting adenomas	Decreasing cell proliferation	Acromegaly
Orexin A	Activation	Human HCT-116 cells	Decreasing cell viability	Colon cancer
Ang-II	Activation	Human HUVEC cells; rat vascular smooth cells; mouse podocytes; rat cardiomyocytes	Cell senescence; apoptosis; production of reactive oxygen ; cardiomyocyte hypertrophy	Cardiovascular diseases; heart failure; proteinuria
Intermedin		Rat H9c2 cells; mouse hearts	Attenuation of myocardial infarction; cardiomyocyte survival; improvement of cardiac performance	Heart failure; cardiac hypertrophic diseases
Urocortin 1	Inhibition	Rat cardiomyocytes	Decreasing apoptosis	Heart failure

some cases these effects have been clearly demonstrated to be dependent on neuropeptide-induced modulation of autophagy. has been hypothesised that autophagy has a protective effect on vascular and podocyte cell damage due to Ang-II. assessment of autophagic dynamics needs further studies.