Relaxin family peptide systems and the central nervous system

Since its discovery in the 1920s, relaxin has enjoyed a reputation as a peptide hormone of pregnancy. However, relaxin and other relaxin family peptides are now associated with numerous non-reproductive physiologies and disease states. The new millennium bought with it the sequence of the human geno...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cellular and molecular life sciences : CMLS 2010-07, Vol.67 (14), p.2327-2341
Main Authors: Callander, G. E, Bathgate, R. A. D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Behavior
Behavior, Animal
Biochemistry
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
brain
Brain - metabolism
Cell Biology
Central nervous system
Endocrine System - physiology
Female
Gene expression
Genomics
GPCR
Hormones
Humans
Life Sciences
Male
Neurology
Neurons - metabolism
Neuropeptides - metabolism
Peptides
Pregnancy
Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled - metabolism
Receptors, Peptide - metabolism
relaxin
Relaxin - metabolism
Relaxin family peptides
Relaxin-3
Review
RXFP1
RXFP3
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Summary:Since its discovery in the 1920s, relaxin has enjoyed a reputation as a peptide hormone of pregnancy. However, relaxin and other relaxin family peptides are now associated with numerous non-reproductive physiologies and disease states. The new millennium bought with it the sequence of the human genome and subsequently new directions for relaxin research. In 2002, the ancestral relaxin gene RLN3 was identified from genome databases. The relaxin-3 peptide is highly expressed in a small region of the brain and in species from teleost to primates and has both conserved sequence and sites of expression. Combined with the discovery of the relaxin family peptide receptors, interest in the role of the relaxin family peptides in the central nervous system has been reignited. This review explores the relaxin family peptides that are expressed in or act upon the brain, the receptors that mediate their actions, and what is currently known of their functions.
ISSN:1420-682X
1420-9071
DOI:10.1007/s00018-010-0304-z