Unlocking the mysteries of the brain and the clockwork perfect communication system by which it functions has been the subject of exhaustive research over decades. Providing vital clues and keys to this intricate and hugely complicated circuit are peptides, particularly neuropeptides and cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript peptide (CART), known to be primarily involved in the regulation of feeding behaviour in all vertebrates including humans. While neuropeptide Y is released when we are starving, and drives us to food, CART has the opposite effect, says Dr Nishi Kant Subhedar, who is researching peptides at the state-of-the-art Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Pune. Subhedar, a professor at the institute, has had his work profusely cited in text-books and published in scholarly journals.

What makes his work on these peptides even more critical and consequential is the increasing realisation that any imbalance in their secretions may give rise to serious pathological conditions like obesity, depression, mania, diabetes and several other central as well as peripheral disorders. Both these peptides may also be involved in other affective conditions like anxiety, depression, memory and learning, says Subhedar.

What are neuropeptides? “Made of chains of amino acids, neuropeptides represent a class of compounds that are found in neurons. They serve as neurotransmitters, and play a very important role in the communication system of the brain,” says Subhedar who did his MSc in Zoology from the University of Pune and PhD from Nagpur University. After serving as faculty at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nagpur University, he retired as Professor of Pharmacology in 2008. Since then he has been serving as professor at IISER. A Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, Subhedar is also the president of the Indian Society for Comparative Endocrinology, and president of the Indian Subcontinent Branch of the International Neuropeptide Society.

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