The Protective Effects of IGF-I against β-Amyloid-related Downregulation of Hippocampal Somatostatinergic System Involve Activation of Akt and Protein Kinase A.

Somatostatin (SRIF), a neuropeptide highly distributed in the hippocampus and involved in learning and memory, is markedly reduced in the brain of Alzheimer's disease patients. The effects of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) against β amyloid (Aβ)-induced neuronal death and associated cognitive disorders have been extensively reported in experimental models of this disease. Here, we examined the effect of IGF-I on the hippocampal somatostatinergic system in Aβ-treated rats and the molecular mechanisms associated with changes in this peptidergic system.

alpha1-Adrenoceptors stimulate a Galphas protein and reduce the transient outward K+ current via a cAMP/PKA-mediated pathway in the rat heart.

alpha(1)-Adrenoceptor stimulation prolongs the duration of the cardiac action potentials and leads to positive inotropic effects by inhibiting the transient outward K(+) current (I(to)). In the present study, we have examined the role of several protein kinases and the G protein involved in I(to) inhibition in response to alpha(1)-adrenoceptor stimulation in isolated adult rat ventricular myocytes. Our findings exclude the classic alpha(1)-adrenergic pathway: activation of the G protein G(alphaq), phospholipase C (PLC), and protein kinase C (PKC), because neither PLC, nor PKC, nor G(alphaq) blockade prevents the alpha(1)-induced I(to) reduction.