Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 and the central nervous system

Introduction of BPC 157

BPC 157 is a naturally occurring gastric pentadecapeptide that is non-toxic and has far-reaching cytoprotective activity; it has been tested in ulcerative colitis and multiple sclerosis trials. In human gastric fluid, BPC 157 is stable for more than 24 hours, giving it good oral bioavailability (always administered alone) and beneficial effects throughout the gastrointestinal tract.

the contribution of BPC 157 to Robert's cytoprotection – that is, the ability to counteract fundamental alcohol-induced gastric lesions, which Robert called cytoprotection – and the ability to counteract lesions arising from the direct injurious contact of the noxious agent with the cell represent the peripheral connection between the gut and the brain axis.

BPC 157 and the central nervous system

BPC 157 was found to have a direct therapeutic effect (i.e., counteracting hippocampal ischaemia/reperfusion-induced damage) in rats following stroke. In ischaemic rats, BPC 157 was administered during reperfusion; it counteracted both early and delayed neurological damage (i.e., 24 and 72 hours after reperfusion). In addition, BPC 157 promoted full functional recovery; the compound improved decline in several behavioural tasks: the Morris water maze, tilted beam walking and lateral push test.

BPC 157 treatment resulted in the up-regulation of Egr1, Akt1, Kras, Src, Foxo, Srf, Vegfr2, Nos3, and Nos1 and the down-regulation of Nos2 and Nfkb (Mapk1 was not activated). The significant up-regulation of Egr1 and Vegfr2 suggests that BPC 157 has vascularising properties, a mechanism that may underlie its ability to regulate ischaemic/recongestive injury.

Compared with control animals, there was strong upregulation of Nos3, slight upregulation of Nos1, and suppression of Nos2. These effects may potentially provide a new therapeutic solution for stroke with specific beneficial effects on the CNS (i.e., reperfusion, amelioration of neuronal damage leading to recovery in the absence of memory, motor, and coordination deficits, and expression of specific genes in the hippocampus).

There is additional evidence that BPC 157 rapidly salvages vascular volume.BPC 157 maintains vascular integrity to counteract the leakage of alcohol into the tissues, an effect that corroborates the previously highlighted evidence of direct endothelial protection by BPC 157, a hallmark of cytoprotective studies.BPC 157 strongly counteracts the effects of alcohol entry into the rat stomach, i.e., rapid endothelial cell damage.BPC 157 is also known to be effective in protecting the endothelium from the effects of alcohol leakage. Thus, BPC 157 also counteracted portal hypertension induced by chronic alcohol consumption. Based on the possible role of BPC 157 in antagonising the effects of alcohol.

Erovic et al. showed that BPC 157 had a significant therapeutic effect on the recovery of rats with spinal cord injury with caudal paralysis (1-minute compression injury of the sacrococcygeal spinal cord [S2-Co1]).

References:

[1] JAKŠA VUKOJEVIC. Pentadecapeptide BPC 157 and the central nervous system.[J]. Neural Regeneration Research, 2022, 17 3: 482-487. DOI:10.4103/1673-5374.320969.