Bombesin and Gastrin-Releasing Peptide: Neuropeptides, Secretogogues, and Growth Factors

Abstract

In the early 1960s, V. Erspamer and colleagues observed that crude methanol extracts of amphibian skin exerted a wide range of pharmacological actions on vascular and extravascular smooth muscle, on external and internal secretions, and on renal circulation and function. This observation prompted the isolation of numerous bioactive peptides that were remarkably abundant in amphibian skin. The knowledge gained from their structure and function often helped to identify homologous peptides in mammalian tissues, where they existed only in minute amounts. Structurally related peptides had the same pharmacological profile and were grouped into families. The major families included the tachykinins, the caeruleins, and the bombesins (Erspamer and Melchiorri 1973). Peptides of these families were originally identified as digestive hormones and as central modulators of metabolism and behavior; more recently, they became also known as growth factors. The present review deals with bombesin and with its mammalian homolog, the gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP).