# DEVELOPMENTAL REGULATION OF NEURON INSULIN-LIKE PEPTIDE

> **NIH NIH R29** · SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY · 1993 · $93,532

## Abstract

Intrauterine growth retardation is known to affect the immediate and long
term neurological outcome of the infant.  However, many of the humoral
factors involved in growth control and successful neurological development
remain incompletely understood both in terms of factor identity and
mechanism of action.  A classic example of this is insulin which has been
repeatedly shown to promote the proliferation and differentiation of many
tissues, including neurons, and to possess the capacity of altering the
feeding (satiety) behavior of animals, thereby modifying the overall growth
pattern.  Under these circumstances, it is surprising that neither the
precise nature nor the origin of "brain insulin" or an insulin-like peptide
(ILP) has been established.  Preliminary data from this laboratory, taken
together with other published reports, indicates that brain insulin/ILP is
synthesized locally within neurons but may differ, in some fundamental way,
from the pancreatic hormone.  Moreover, these same preliminary data also
suggest that brain insulin/ILP synthesis is subject to regulation by
exogenous insulin; an observation which would offer significant insight
into the control of insulin activity in the CNS.  To more fully address
this and several equally basic issues, we propose to:  1) Determine the
sites and pattern of insulin/ILP synthesis in the developing rabbit brain
by in situ hybridization, 2) Characterize the abundance and size of ILP
mRNA at different stages of fetal and immediate postnatal rabbit
development by Northern analysis, 3) Determine the effect of exogenous
insulin on steady state brain/neuronal ILP mRNA abundance by Northern
analysis, 4) Establish the degree of homology between neuronal ILP and
authentic pancreatic insulin, and 5) Isolate and characterize the neuronal
ILP and gene by screening a brain cDNA library and employing DNA sequencing
methods.

The studies will be instrumental in establishing the function of ILP and
its sequence elements in tissue specific expression and neuronal
differentiation.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 2199369
- **Project number:** 5R29HD025024-05
- **Recipient organization:** SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY
- **SAM.gov UEI:** JNBLLTBTLLD8
- **Principal Investigator:** Sherin U Devaskar
- **Activity code:** R29 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 1993
- **Award amount:** $93,532
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1989-07-01 → 1995-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/2199369

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 2199369, DEVELOPMENTAL REGULATION OF NEURON INSULIN-LIKE PEPTIDE (5R29HD025024-05). Retrieved via MORVS 2026-10-25 from https://api.morvs.ai/grant/nih/2199369. Licensed CC0.

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