Pro-neurogenic peptides and neurogenesis in the normal and seizure damaged hippocampus.

We have shown that neuropeptide Y (NPY), a peptide neurotransmitter released by hippocampal interneurons, is proliferative via the Y1 receptor, for both nestin positive precursors and committed neuroblasts in the normal dentate gyrus, and for nestin positive progenitors in the subventricular and subcallosal stem cell niches around the hippocampus. Knockout studies also show that NPY and FGF2 are individually necessary, but not sufficient, for seizure-induced precursor proliferation, suggesting a possible interaction. In this presentation I will review the roles of NPY and other peptide transmitters in the neural stem cell niche under normal conditions and after kainate-induced status epilepticus, and will describe novel and important interactions between these neuropeptides and FGF