Yuji Kawamata

TL;DR: Synthetic peptides derived from the C-terminal amino acid sequence of bovine preproapelin were capable of specifically promoting the acidification rate in the cells expressing the APJ receptor in a range from 10(-7) to 10(-10) M, indicating that apelin is an endogenous ligand for theAPJ receptor.

TL;DR: It is shown that a G-protein-coupled receptor, GPR40, which is abundantly expressed in the pancreas, functions as a receptor for long-chain FFAs, and that long- Chain FFAs amplify glucose-stimulated insulin secretion from pancreatic β cells by activating GPR 40.

TL;DR: It is found that a novel G protein-coupled receptor, TGR5, is responsive to bile acids as a cell-surface receptor, and was abundantly expressed in monocytes/macrophages in human and rabbit.

TL;DR: It is shown that a new peptide, which shares no sequence similarity with known peptides and proteins, as an endogenous ligand is a potent prolactin-releasing factor for rat anterior pituitary cells and is named this peptide prolactIn-re releasing peptide.

TL;DR: In this paper, the identification of a human gene that encodes at least three RFamide-related peptides, hRFRP-1-3, has been reported.