Neuropeptide Y inhibits vasoactive intestinal peptide- and dopamine-induced cyclic AMP formation in human Ewing's sarcoma WE-68 cells.

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) regulation of intracellular cyclic AMP accumulation was studied in human Ewing's sarcoma cell line, WE-68. NPY inhibited vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)- and dopamine-stimulated but not basal cyclic AMP formation. The peptide effect was rapid (less than 2 min), concentration-dependent with a half-maximal effective concentration (EC50) of 8 nM NPY, and maximal inhibition reaching 60-70% with 100 nM NPY. Prior exposure of WE-68 cells to pertussis toxin completely abolished the inhibitory action of NPY. It is concluded that NPY attenuates agonist-stimulated cyclic AMP formation in Ewing's sarcoma WE-68 cells, and may do so via the inhibitory guanine nucleotide regulatory protein of adenylate cyclase.