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Peptide effects on the cardiovascular system can be caused by an action within the central nervous system; by peptidergic innervation of the end-organs of blood pressure control, i.e., the kidney, blood vessels, and heart; by local generation of peptides in the peripheral tissue; and by hormonal effects of circulating peptides. In this paper, the effects of opioid peptides and neuropeptide Y on blood vessels are discussed. Both peptides are found in noradrenergic nerve endings. They either modulate the release of catecholamines by acting on a presynaptic site or exert their effects at the post-synaptic level. The peptides are not evenly distributed throughout the sympathetic nervous system; a suborganization of sympathetic innervation begins to emerge regarding a co-localization of neuropeptides with catecholamines. The differential sympathetic innervation of endorgans of blood pressure control with respect to neuropeptides may, in the future, allow for selective activation and inhibition of parts of the sympathetic nervous system. Such a suborganization of the autonomic nervous system may not only lead to a better understanding of cardiovascular disease, but also make possible the development of new drugs which interfere more selectively with the sympathetic peptidergic system.
Ganten et al. (Sun,) studied this question.