Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating peptide stimulates neurite growth in PC12 cells

The ability of PACAP-38 to stimulate morphological development was studied using rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells. PACAP-38 produced concentration-dependent increases in percentage of cells exhibiting neurite extension. Similar increases were produced by forskolin (28 +/- 2% at 96 h) and 8-bromo cAMP (30 +/- 2%). Vasoactive intestinal peptide and alpha-calcitonin gene-related peptide were without effect. PACAP-38 produced significant increases in PC12 cell cAMP content and inositol phosphate turnover. Intracellular [Ca2+] increased from 169 +/- 14 nM to 560 +/- 58 nM in response to 1 microM PACAP-38. PACAP-stimulated neurite outgrowth was abolished by RpcAMPS, an inhibitor of cAMP-dependent kinases but was unaffected by the protein kinase C antagonist H7.