A TOOL TO STUDY THE DIVERSE BEHAVIOR EFFECTS OF GALANIN

神经肽甘丙肽与多种生物系统有关：疼痛传递、抑郁/焦虑、记忆和摄食行为。这导致了人们对甘丙素及其功能的兴趣稳步增加。然而，甘丙素在这些正常过程中的作用，以及它参与的病理过程，如阿尔茨海默病，都没有被完全理解。这一提议为研究其作用提供了一个工具：一种专用于甘丙素刺激的神经元的毒素。该工具由甘丙素和核糖体失活蛋白Saporin之间的融合蛋白组成。移除这些神经元，以及伴随而来的行为变化，将使上述研究领域的科学家能够研究这些神经元如何参与每种行为。由于这种多肽影响的系统不同，这一工具将对大量科学家有用。由于使用甘丙素的生物系统中有许多会影响药物的使用和滥用，该工具也将导致对这些过程的更好理解。拟议的商业应用：这项提议将产生一种商业试剂，用于研究神经肽甘丙素的功能。该试剂将由研究疼痛、抑郁/焦虑、疼痛、药物滥用、记忆和进食的研究科学家使用。这些都是人们非常感兴趣的话题，因为在过去的十年里神经科学的新发现。

The neuropeptide galanin has been implicated in a wide range of biological systems: pain transmission, depression/anxiety, memory and feeding behavior. This has resulted in a steady increase in interest in galanin and its functions. However, the role of galanin is neither fully understood in these normal processes nor in pathologies in which it is involved, such as Alzheimer's disease. This proposal provides a tool for the study of its role: a toxin specific for the neurons that are stimulated by galanin. The tool consists of a fusion protein between galanin and the ribosome inactivating protein saporin. The removal of these neurons, and the concomitant changes in behavior, will allow scientists in the above areas of research to study how these neurons participate in each of the behaviors. Because of the different diverse systems that this peptide affects, this tool will be useful to a large number of scientists. Because many, ff not all, of the biological systems utilizing galanin impact drug use and abuse, the tool will result in a greater understanding of those processes also. PROPOSED COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS: This proposal will result in a commercial reagent for the study of the function of the neuropeptide galanin. The reagent will be used by research scientists who work in the fields of pain, depression/anxiety, pain, drug abuse, memory and feeding. These are topics that are of great interest because of new discoveries in the neurosciences in the last ten years.