Vasoactive intestinal peptide and PHI stimulate somatostatin release from rat cerebral cortical and diencephalic cells in dispersed cell culture.

To determine the effect of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) on the secretion of somatostatin by neurons, dispersed fetal cerebral cortical and diencephalic cells grown in culture were exposed on day 10 or 11 of culture to various concentrations of VIP, and for comparison to the structurally related peptides PHI (Peptide Histidine Isoleucine-27), growth hormone (GRH1-44-NH2) and secretin and to cholecystokinin. VIP elicited a dose-dependent release of somatostatin from both cortical and diencephalic cells, the lowest effective concentration being 6 X 10(-9) M. PHI also brought about release of somatostatin, but was between 0.06 and 0.1 times as potent as VIP. Placed together in a concentration of 10(-7) M, the two peptides did not have an additive effect. In this system GRH1-44-NH2, secretin and CCK octapeptide were without effect.