INTERLEUKIN-1 AND INTERLEUKIN-6 MODIFY PROTEIN-PHOSPHORYLATION IN THECENTRAL-NERVOUS-SYSTEM OF HIRUDO-MEDICINALIS

Recent data suggest that IL-1-like molecules have been conserved durin g evolution. The signal transduction mechanism of IL-1 is not known, b ut kinase activation has been reported. With the aim of studying if hu man IL-1 has any effect on the leech nervous system, we have added thi s cytokine to segmental ganglia labeled with [P-32]ortophosphoric acid ; proteins have been separated by electrophoresis and phosphoproteins detected by autoradiography. In the present paper we show that human I L-1 and IL-6 are able to induce changes on protein phosphorylation in the leech central nervous system and that these changes are similar to those ones induced by the neurotransmitter serotonin.