Endocrinology, Vol 127, 934-941, Copyright © 1990 by Endocrine Society

ARTICLES

Characterization of the receptors for peptide-YY and avian pancreatic polypeptide in chicken and pig brains

A Inui, M Okita, M Miura, Y Hirosue, M Nakajima, T Inoue, M Oya and S Baba
Second Department of Internal Medicine, Kobe University School of Medicine, Japan.

We have previously identified the peptide-YY (PYY) receptor on porcine brain membranes as a 50-kDa protein after chemical cross-linking. PYY receptors are discretely distributed in the brain of various mammals, to which neuropeptide-Y (NPY), but not pancreatic polypeptide (PP), bind with great specificity. The present study was carried out in order 1) to identify and characterize the PYY receptor in the avian brain, 2) to compare it with the APP receptor that had been demonstrated in the cerebellum, and 3) to examine [125I]APP-binding activity in the porcine brain. [125I]PYY was bound to chicken brain membranes via high affinity (Kd = 2.19 x 10(-10) M) and low affinity (Kd = 1.93 x 10(-7) M) components. The binding sites were highly specific for PYY and APP as well as for NPY and PPP, coupled to a guanine nucleotide regulatory protein, and distributed in various brain areas, including the cerebellum. The C-terminal fragments of PYY, PYY-(17-36) and PYY-(24- 36), exhibited low potency in inhibiting binding, but behaved like full agonists. Porcine brain membranes, on the other hand, possessed two orders of the APP-binding sites, a high affinity component (Kd = 4.24 x 10(-9) M) and a low affinity component (Kd = 3.08 x 10(-7) M). APP binding showed a high specificity for APP, but not for PPP, NPY, or PYY. The binding activity was highest in the pituitary gland, followed by the hippocampus, amygdala, cerebral cortex, hypothalamus, and cerebellum. Guanosine 5'-O-thiotriphosphate, a nonhydrolyzable GTP analog, did not inhibit the binding of [125I]APP to porcine or chicken brain membranes, which ran counter to the results of PYY receptors in both species. Cross-linking studies have demonstrated that receptor- bound [125I]APP is cross-linked to a protein of 67 kDa without disulfide-linked subunits in both porcine and chicken brain membranes. In the latter species, [125I]PYY and [125I]NPY were also cross-linked to the same 67-kDa proteins, which were different from the receptor proteins (50 kDa) in mammalian species. These results indicate that chicken brain has receptors specific for PYY and NPY, as was found in mammalian brains, and that PYY, NPY, and PP act in the brain through interaction at multiple receptor sites, which are similar to and shared by other members of the PP family. Furthermore, the finding that APP- binding sites in porcine brain are more specific than those in avian brain suggests that an endogenous peptide similar to APP may exist in porcine brain.