Evidence that galanin is a parasympathetic, rather than a sympathetic, neurotransmitter in the baboon pancreas.

To determine whether galanin is a pancreatic sympathetic neurotransmitter regulating insulin secretion in the baboon, as it is in the dog, we evaluated galanin for inhibitory effects on insulin secretion in conscious baboons, determined if baboon pancreatic islets are innervated by galaninergic fibers using immunohistochemistry, and measured galanin content in the major sympathetic ganglion supplying the pancreas. Surprisingly, infusion of galanin (1 microgram/kg per min) had no effect on arginine-stimulated secretion of either insulin (71 +/- 14 vs. 88 +/- 17 microU/ml; P = NS) or glucagon (104 +/- 12 vs. 94 +/- 9 pg/ml; P = NS). By contrast, growth hormone secretion was markedly increased during galanin infusion. In the baboon celiac ganglion, no galanin immunoreactivity was detectable in sympathetic neuronal cell bodies by immunostaining and their content of galanin-like immunoreactivity, determined by radioimmunoassay, was only 3% of that in dog celiac ganglion (5.2 +/- 0.8 vs. 158 +/- 13 pmol/g; P < 0.001). By contrast, galanin immunoreactivity was observed in many nerve fibers in the baboon exocrine pancreas and occasionally in baboon pancreatic islets. Moreover, galanin content of the baboon pancreas was similar to that of dog (8.7 +/- 1.5 vs. 5.5 +/- 1.2 pmol/g; P = NS). The finding of galanin immunoreactivity in many neuronal cell bodies in baboon intrapancreatic ganglia suggests a parasympathetic source for these galaninergic fibers in the baboon. Together these data demonstrate that galanin is likely to be a parasympathetic neurotransmitter in the baboon pancreas, without major effects on insulin or glucagon secretion.