PACAP Research Team (MTA-PTE PACAP Research Team)
Pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP) is an antiapototic, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant neuropeptide with potent neuroprotective and general cytoprotective effects. Our research has been focusing on the different physiological and pathological effects of PACAP for 20 years. We are investigating the effects of PACAP in different in vitro and in vivo models of injuries. We are also conducting human studies, where we study changes of PACAP/PACAP receptor expression in pathological conditions.
Lack of endogenous PACAP, in KO mice, leads to increased vulnerability to various stressors. Associated with this increased oxidative stress, apoptosis and inflammation, KO mice show early aging signs. According to our preliminary observations, brains of aging mice show early neuronal degeneration. We have described accelerated pre-senile systemic amyloidosis in PACAP deficient mice, indicating the importance of PACAP in anti-aging processes.
Main research areas
- PACAP and aging
- PACAP KO mice – phenotype and physiology
- Role of PACAP in reproduction (spermatogenesis, trophoblast physiology, presence of PACAP in follicular fluid, testis development, ovarian structure, placental presence and effects, early embryonic development).
- Role of PACAP in bone and cartilage development and regeneration
- PACAP in tooth development
- Ocular effects of PACAP: models of retina diseases, retinoprotective effects, retinal aging, effects of PACAP analogs and related peptides, applicatin of PACAP in form of eye drops, corneal effects. Presence and changes of PACAP expression in the human eye. PACAP signaling in the eye.
- Neuroprotective effects of PACAP neuroprotektív in Parkinson’s disease
- Changes of PACAP expression in clinical samples, potential role as biomarker
- Changes of PACAP and receptor expression in human cancers
- Changes in transcriptomics and proteomics after PAAP treatments
- Protective role of PACAP in kidney disease models
- Cellular protective mechanism, in normal and pathological cell lines, exposed to different injuries
- Role of PACAP in hearing
- Role of PACAP in addictions
- Role of PACAP in diabetes related conditions (nephropathy, neuropathy, retinopathy)
- Presence of PACAP in human and animal milk
- Signaling pathways of PACAP in tumor cell lines (breast cancer, cholangiocarcinoma, retinoblastoma)
- Vascular effects of PACAP
Participating researchers
Leader of the research team: Reglődi Dóra
Assistant director: Tamás Andrea
Senior researchers:
Tamás Andrea, Atlasz Tamás, Kiss Péter, Lubics Andrea, Horváth Gabriella, Opper Balázs, Fábián Eszter
PhD students:
Jüngling Adél, Fülöp Balázs, Rivnyák Ádám, Szabó Edina, Váczy Alexandra, Vass Réka
External PhD students: Schäfer Eszter, Illés Anita, Sridharan Manavalan, Szabó Dóra
Student researchers:
Kővári Petra, Vicena Viktória, Sparks Jason, Gyurok Gergő, Herman Adél, Farkas Kinga, Bábindeli Cintia
Most important collaborations, international and national collaborations:
International collaborations
1.
Dept. of Anatomy, Showa University, Tokyo, Japan
Prof. Seiji Shioda, Tomoya Nakamachi, Hirokazu Ohtaki
PACAP expression in cornea, effects of PACAP in the cornea, retina, PAC1 expression
2.
Laboratory of Molecular Neuropharmacology, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Japan
H. Hashimoto, A. Baba, N. Shintani
PACAP KO mice
3.
Inst. of Cytology, Histology and Histopathology, Trier, Germany
Attila Bárdosi, Sebastian Bardosi
PACAP KO mice – histolgoical analysis, amyloidosis, expression of PACAP and PAC1 receptor in human tumors
4.
Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Howard University, Washington DC, USA
Yousef Tizabi
PACAP’s neuroprotective effects in neuroblastoma cells against different injuries
5.
INSERM U413, University of Rouen, Rouen, France
David Vaudry
PACAP fragments and analogs in neuroprotection
6.
University of Washington, Seattle, USA
WA Banks, Therese Salameh
PACAP – passage across blood retina barrier
7.
Department of Human Anatomy and Psychobiology, School of Medicine, Campus Espinardo,University of Murcia, Spain
Maria-Trinidad Herrero
PACAP in models of Parkinson’s disease, aging and retinal aging in Degu
8.
Department of Microbiology and Hygiene, Charité – University Medicine Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Berlin, Germany
Markus Heimesaat
PACAP - in intestinal inflammatory models, encephalitis models. Antimocrobal effects of PACAP, intestinal flora in PACAP KO mice
9.
Dept. of Anatomy & Histology, National University of Health Sciences,St.Petersburg, Florida, USA
Sridharan Manavalan
Retinoprotektive agents, PACAP and PAC1 receptor KO mice, protective effects in neuroblastoma cell lines
10.
Biomedical Institute of Jinan University, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
Rongjie Yu
PACAP-TAT peptide – retinoprotective effects
11.
Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Marburg, Germany
Ildikó Dunay
PACAP - effects in toxoplasma encephalitis model
12.
Neuropsychopharmacology and Toxicology Program, College of Pharmacy
Kangwon National University, South-Korea
Hyoung-Chun Kim
PACAP - effects in addiction and epilepsy
13.
Instituto de Química y Fisicoquímica Biológicas (UBA-CONICET), Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina
Marta Antonelli
Prenatal stress models
14.
Reynolds Oklahoma Center on Aging, Department of Geriatric Medicine, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma, USA
Ungvári Zoltán, Csiszár Anna
PACAP in aging
15.
Zentrum für Pathologie Kempten-Allgäu Germany
László Füzesi
PACAP expression in human tumors
16.
Institute of Pathology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Remi Longuespee
Examination of PACAP KO samples with mass spectrometry
17.
Karolinska Inst., Sweden
Csaba Adori
quantification of the dendritic arborization and the number of DA cell bodies in models of Parkinson’s disease