PRESYNAPTIC INHIBITORY EFFECTS OF THE PEPTIDES NPY, PYY AND PP ON NICOTINIC EPSPS IN GUINEA-PIG GASTRIC MYENTERIC NEURONS

1. Neuropeptide Y (NPY), peptide YY (PYY) and pancreatic polypeptide (PP) affect gastrointestinal effector systems. Although their precise mode of action is unknown it is suggested that their effects are partly mediated by enteric neurones. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effects of NPY, PYY, avian PP (aPP) and bovine PP (bPP) on the electrophysiological behaviour of gastric myenteric neurones using intracellular recording methods. 2. In all thirty-one neurones tested, electrical stimulation of interganglionic fibre tracts evoked cholinergic, nicotinic fast excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fEPSPs). NPY, PYY and bPP (10-500 nm) inhibited the fEPSPs in a concentration-dependent manner. Additionally, these peptides reversibly abolished spontaneously occurring nicotinic fEPSPs. None of the peptides exhibited any effect on the response to exogeneously applied acetylcholine or on the postsynaptic excitability of the neurones. The inhibitory effects on the fEPSPs could not be reversed by perfusion of the alpha-adrenoceptor antagonist, phentolamine (1-mu-m). 3. In contrast, aPP had no significant effect on fEPSPs even when perfused at the high concentration of 1-mu-m. 4. The results suggest that NPY, PYY and bPP, but not aPP, act presynaptically to inhibit acetylcholine release from myenteric neurones of the gastric corpus, thereby suppressing fEPSPs. The study indicates a modulatory role for NPY, PYY and bPP in synaptic interactions within the enteric nervous system.