growth and proliferation occur into adulthood. Dentate gyrus The dentate gyrus is significantly involved in cell proliferation, a process modulated by various internal factors including neuropeptide Y. Reduction or elimination of NPY released by interneurons decreased cell growth in this brain area. NPY affects neurogenesis by interacting with ERK kinase signaling pathways. Additionally, NPY acting on and stimulating Y1 receptors present on progenitor cell membranes in order to increase cell proliferation. Sub-ventricular zone Similar to the dentate gyrus, NPY has been found to increase cellular proliferation and differentiation in the sub-ventricular zone by specifically activating Y1 receptors in the ERK1/2 pathway. Additionally, NPY was found in neuronal fibers that pass through the sub-ventricular zone and extend to other brain areas. A variety of other effects and physiological processes involving NPY in the sub-ventricular zone have been discovered, many of which involve neuron migration patterns. Olfactory bulb It was found that after blocking NPY expression in mouse olfactory epithelium, the amount of olfactory precursor cells decreased by half. This in turn caused the mice to develop a lower amount of olfactory cells overall. This study exemplified NPY's influence on precursor cells. Discovery Following the isolation of neuropeptide Y (NPY) from the porcine hypothalamus in 1982, researchers began to speculate about the involvement of NPY in hypothalamic-mediated functions. In a 1983 study, NPY-ergic axon terminals were located in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus, and the highest levels of NPY immunoreactivity was found within the PVN of the hypothalamus. Six years later, in 1989, Morris et al. homed in on the location of NPYergic nuclei in the brain. Furthermore, in situ hybridization results from the study showed the highest cellular levels of NPY mRNA in the arcuate nucleus (ARC) of the hypothalamus. In 1989, Haas & George reported that local injection of NPY into the PVN resulted in an acute release of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) in the rat brain, proving that NPYergic activity directly stimulates the release and synthesis of CRH. The latter became a hallmark paper in NPY studies. A significant amount of work had already been done in the 1970s on CRH and its involvement in stress and eating disorders such as obesity. These studies, collectively, marked the beginning for understanding the role of NPY in orexigenesis or food intake. Connection to food intake Behavioral assays in orexigenic studies, in which rats are the model organism, have been done