VASOACTIVE INTESTINAL PEPTIDE REGULATES MITOSIS, DIFFERENTIATION AND SURVIVAL OF CULTURED SYMPATHETIC NEUROBLASTS

ALTHOUGH acute, millisecond-to-millisecond actions of neurotransinitters are well documented, diverse longer-term effects have been discovered only recently1-5. Emerging evidence indicates that these signals regulate a variety of neuronal processes, from phenotypic expression to neurite outgrowth6-19. Here we show that a single putative transmitter, vasoactive intestinal peptide, can exert multiple, long-term effects simultaneously: it stimulates mitosis, promotes neurite outgrowth and enhances survival of sympathetic neuron precursors in culture. As the peptide seems to be a normal presynaptic transmitter in the sympathetic system19-25, synaptic transmission may exert hitherto unexpected effects. © 1990 Nature Publishing Group.