Giancarlo Pepeu
{{Short description|Italian pharmacologist and professor}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Giancarlo Pepeu
| image = Giancarlo Pepeu.png
| caption = Photograph of Giancarlo Pepeu taken while he was going to Trieste
| birth_date = 29 March 1930
| death_date = 20 November 2021
| death_place = Florence (Italy)
| occupation = University Professor
| alma_mater = University of Florence
| known_for = Neuropharmacology, Acetylcholine
| spouse = [https://archiviostorico.unica.it/persone/marconcini-ileana Ileana Marconcini] (m.1964)
| parents = Francesco Pepeu,{{cite web | url=https://fototecatrieste.it/fondi/fondi-fotografici-della-prima-guerra-mondiale/fondo-fotografico-francesco-pepeu/ |title=Francesco Pepeu (in Italian)'}}{{cite web | url=https://www.biblioest.it/SebinaOpac/query/KF_TISEC:tsa3505096?context=catalogo/ |title=Pepeu, Francesco - Fotografie - 1860-1930 - Collezione [della] Fototeca dei Civici Musei di storia ed arte (in Italian)'}}{{cite web | url=https://ilpiccolo.gelocal.it/tempo-libero/2020/06/14/news/c-era-un-medico-di-trieste-al-caffe-focolaio-prima-linea-contro-le-pandemie-d-europa-1.38966891 |title=C'era un medico di Trieste al Caffè Focolaio, prima linea contro le pandemie d'Europa (in Italian)'|date=14 June 2020 }} Edvige d'Anna{{cite web |url=https://www.cultura.trentino.it/archivistorici/complessi/4921367 |title=Famiglia d'Anna de Celo' (in Italian)}}
| relatives = [https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefanomarconcini/ Stefano Marconcini]
}}
Giancarlo Pepeu (29 March 1930 – 20 November 2021) was an Italian Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Florence and an Honorary Fellow of the British Pharmacological Society. He was from Milan and graduated with a Laurea degree in Medicine from the University of Florence to pursue an academic career.
== Biography ==
Giancarlo Pepeu was born on 29 March 1930 in Milan, Italy.{{cite news|url=https://www.milanotoday.it/cronaca/morto-giancarlo-pepeu-farmacologo.html|title=È morto il professore e farmacologo Giancarlo Pepeu|newspaper=MilanoToday|date=22 November 2021|language=it}} He was a member of the Pepeu family, whose earliest known member was Stefano Pepeu, a merchant in Trieste, born about 1750, presumably to immigrant parents. In the Pepeu family, it has been passed down that the surname Pepeu is of Istro-Romanian origin. The termination -u, common in surnames of the related Romanians, could be proof of distant Istro-Romanian ancestry of the Pepeu family. Giancarlo's family is the only one known to carry the surname Pepeu in Trieste and in the rest of Italy.{{cite book|chapter-url=https://www.biblio.units.it/SebinaOpac/resource/la-vicenda-biografica-e-professionale-di-emerico-pepeu/TSA2892866|chapter=La vicenda biografica e professionale di Emerico Pepeu|first=Donatella|last=Lippi|url=https://www.biblio.units.it/SebinaOpac/resource/tra-esculapio-e-mercurio-medici-e-sanita-nella-trieste-dellottocento-con-note-sulla-vita-di-un-prima/TSA1395346|title=Tra Esculapio e Mercurio. Medici e sanità nella Trieste dell'Ottocento|editor-first=Euro|editor-last=Ponte|publisher=Edizioni Università di Trieste|pages=136–143|year=2011|language=it|isbn=9788883033247}}
Upon completing his studies in 1954, Giancarlo Pepeu began research at the Florence's Institute of Pharmacology, under the guidance of Professor Mario Aiazzi-Mancini.{{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.torrossa.com/en/resources/an/2284576 |title=Firenze University Press: Mario Aiazzi-Mancini, M.D. |date=2005 |doi=10.1400/52248 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818105913/https://www.torrossa.com/en/resources/an/2284576 |archive-date=18 August 2023 |last1=Dolara |first1=Piero |chapter=Mario Aiazzi Mancini |publisher=Firenze University Press |access-date=18 August 2023 |url-status=bot: unknown }} In 1958, he became a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University's{{Cite journal|title=Effect of Methylpentynol on Acetylcholine in the Rat's Brain|journal=Nature|date=1960-05-21|pages=638|volume=186|issue=1960|first1=G.|last1=Pepeu|first2=N.|last2=Giarman|doi=10.1038/186638a0|doi-access=free|pmid=14431656 |bibcode=1960Natur.186..638P }} Department of Pharmacology, and from 1961 to 1968 he contributed as assistant professor across Italian Universities in Sassari, Pisa and Cagliari. Subsequently, Pepeu became full professor of pharmacology in 1968. In 1974, Pepeu was appointed Professor Pharmacology at the University of Florence's Faculty of Medicine, a position he held until his retirement in 2005. While in Florence he also held roles as the Dean for Scientific Research and International Relations, and as the Director of the Department of Preclinical and Clinical Pharmacology.{{cite web |url=https://www.neurofarba.unifi.it/upload/sub/AAA/CV_Pepeu.pdf |title=Florence University: Curriculum Vitae - Giancalo Pepeu}} Additionally, Pepeu served as the president of the Italian Pharmacological Society.{{cite web |url=https://www.sifweb.org/la-societa/la-sif-ricorda/giancarlo-pepeu |title=La SIF ricorda Giancalo Pepeu}}
Academic research
Giancarlo Pepeu's scientific interests were concentrated in Endocrinology and Neuroscience{{cite web |url=https://research.com/u/giancarlo-pepeu |title=Summary of Citations of Giancarlo Pepeu's Work}} including the study of Acetylcholine, Cholinergic agents and, in particular, neurotransmitters like glutamate{{Cite journal |title=Adenosine decreases aspartate and glutamate release from rat hippocampal slices |journal=European Journal of Pharmacology |date=1984 |pages=19–26 |volume=104 |issue=1–2 |first1=R. |last1=Corradetti |first2=G. |last2=Lo Conte |first3=F. |last3=Moroni |first4=B. |last4=Passani |first5=G. |last5=Pepeu |doi=10.1016/0014-2999(84)90364-9|pmid=6149943 }} and GABA{{Cite journal |title=Effects of novelty and habituation on acetylcholine, GABA, and glutamate release from the frontal cortex and hippocampus of freely moving rats |journal=Neuroscience |date=2001 |pages=43–53 |volume=106 |issue=1 |first1=MG. |last1=Giovannini |first2=A. |last2=Rakovska |first3=RS. |last3=Benton |first4=M. |last4=Pazzagli |first5=L. |last5=Bianchi |first6=G. |last6=Pepeu |doi=10.1016/s0306-4522(01)00266-4|pmid=11564415 }} alongside Acetylcholine{{Cite journal |title=Effect of 'tremorine' and some anti-parkinson's disease drugs on acetylcholine in the rat's brain |journal=Nature |date=1963 |pages=895 |volume=200 |first=G. |last=Pepeu |issue=4909 |doi=10.1038/200895a0|doi-access=free |pmid=14096075 |bibcode=1963Natur.200..895P }} (ACh) and other biogenic amines known for their substantial effects on the central and autonomic nervous system.{{Cite journal |title=Phospholipase C activation induced by noradrenaline in rat hippocampal slices is potentiated by GABA-receptor stimulation |journal=EMBO Journal |date=1987 |pages=1595–1598 |volume=6 |first1=M. |last1=Ruggero |first2=R. |last2=Corradetti |first3=V. |last3=Chiarugi |first4=G. |last4=Pepeu |issue=6 |doi=10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb02405.x|doi-access=free |pmid=3038526 |pmc=553529 }} His initial work on ACh revolved around investigating how psychotropic drugs could alter the concentration and release of ACh, thereby influencing mechanisms underlying EEG and behavioral changes.{{Cite journal |title=The release of acetylcholine from the brain: an approach to the study of the central cholinergic mechanisms |journal=Progress in Neurobiology |date=1973 |pages=259–288 |volume=2 |issue=1 |first=G. |last=Pepeu |doi=10.1177/2398212818820506|doi-access=free |pmid=32166177 |pmc=7058246 }}{{Cite journal |title=Neuroregulators and electrical activity: transmitter and modulator influence on the cortical cholinergic system |journal=Electroencephalography & Clinical Neurophysiology Supplement |date=1986 |pages=406–416 |volume=38 |first1=G. |last1=Pepeu |first2=I. |last2=Marconcini-Pepeu |pmid=2878800}} While at Yale University, Pepeu and his collaborator Nick Giarman demonstrated that antimuscarinic drugs like Atropine and Scopolamine lowered ACh level in the cerebral cortex,{{Cite journal |title=Drug-induced changes in brain acetylcholine |journal=British Journal of Pharmacology and Chemotherapy |date=1962 |pages=226–334 |volume=19 |first1=N. |last1=Giarman |first2=G. |last2=Pepeu |issue=2 |doi=10.1111/j.1476-5381.1962.tb01184.x|doi-access=free |pmid=13947637 |pmc=1482146 }} implying a potential connection between this phenomenon and the amnesic effect of these drugs. Subsequently, they laid the foundational principles for comprehending ACh release from the cerebral cortex,{{Cite journal |title=Acetylcholine release from the frontal cortex during exploratory activity |journal=Brain Research |date=1998 |pages=218–227 |volume=1-2 |first1=G. |last1=Pepeu |first2=A. |last2=Bartolini |first3=M.G. |last3=Giovannini |first4=S.R. |last4=Kopf |issue=1–2 |doi=10.1016/s0006-8993(97)01161-x|pmid=9518622 }} paving the way for subsequent studies on drugs and afferent inputs from subcortical structures modulating this process.{{Cite journal |title=Investigations into the release of acetylcholine from the cerebral cortex of the cat: effects of amphetamine, of scopolamine and of septal lesions |journal=Neuropharmacology |date=1972 |pages=665–674 |volume=11,5 |first1=A. |last1=Nistri |first2=A. |last2=Bartolini |first3=G. |last3=Deffenu |first4=G. |last4=Pepeu |issue=5 |doi=10.1016/0028-3908(72)90074-3|pmid=4597257 }} In Florence, Pepeu expanded his inquiries to encompass in vivo and in vitro studies of ACh release, broadening his investigations to glutamate, GABA and adenosine release.{{Cite journal |title=The acetylcholine, GABA, glutamate triangle in the rat forebrain |journal=Journal of Physiology |location=Paris |date=1998 |pages=315–355 |volume=91 |first1=G. |last1=Pepeu |first2=P. |last2=Blandina |issue=5–6 |doi=10.1016/S0928-4257(99)80004-7|pmid=9789836 }}{{Cite journal |title=A2 adenosine receptors: their presence and neuromodulatory role in the central nervous system |journal=General Pharmacology: The Vascular System |date=1996 |pages=925–933 |volume=27 |first1=S. |last1=Latini |first2=M. |last2=Pazzagli |first3=G. |last3=Pepeu |first4=F. |last4=Pedata |issue=6 |doi=10.1016/0306-3623(96)00044-4|pmid=8909972 }} His research indicated that cortical networks operating via complex neurotransmitter interactions were responsible for drug effects on memory.{{Cite journal |title=Memory disorders: novel treatments, clinical perspective |journal=Life Sciences |date=1994 |pages=2189–2194 |volume=55 |first=G. |last=Pepeu |issue=25–26 |doi=10.1016/0024-3205(94)00400-5|pmid=7997078 }} In the later stages of his career, Pepeu's activity shifted to exploring the role of central cholinergic pathways in the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease,{{Cite journal |title=The fate of the brain cholinergic neurons in neurodegenerative diseases |journal=Brain Research |date=2017 |pages=173–184 |volume=1670 |first1=G. |last1=Pepeu |first2=M.G. |last2=Giovannini |doi=10.1016/j.brainres.2017.06.023|pmid=28652219 }} where he revealed the fundamental role of neuroinflammation in animal models with the condition.{{Cite journal |title=Morphological, biochemical and behavioural changes induced by neurotoxic and inflammatory insults to the nucleus basalis |journal=International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience |date=1998 |pages=705–714 |volume=16 |first1=F. |last1=Casamenti |first2=C. |last2=Prosperi |first3=C. |last3=Scali |first4=L. |last4=Giovannelli |first5=G. |last5=Pepeu |issue=7–8 |doi=10.1016/s0736-5748(98)00080-x|pmid=10198818 }}
Published works
- According to [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Giancarlo+Pepeu PubMed], G. Pepeu is author of more than 264 papers, published between 1955 and 2017 and coauthored six books{{cite book |author=Pepeu G., Ladinsky H. |title=Cholinergic Mechanisms |publisher=Plenum Publishing Corporation |location=New York |year=1980 |pages=899 |isbn=978-0-306-40810-6}}{{cite book |author1=Pepeu G. |author2=Kuhar M.J. |author3=Enna S.J. |title=Receptors for Neurotransmitters and Peptide Hormones |publisher=Raven Press |location=New York |year=1980 |pages=516 |isbn=978-0-890-04408-7}}{{cite book |author1=Genazzani E |author2=Giotti A |author3=Mantegazza P |author4=Pepeu G |author5=Periti P. |title=Trattato di Farmacologia e Chemioterapia |publisher= UTET|location=Torino |year=1986–1991 |edition=1-2 |volume=1-2 |pages=862, 560 |isbn=8-803-00183-2}}{{cite book |author1=Pepeu G. |author2=Tomlinson B. |author3=Wischik C.M. |title=New Trends in Aging Research |publisher=Springer Verlag |location=New York |year=1988 |edition=1 |volume=VIII |pages=237 |isbn=978-0-387-96911-4}}{{cite book |author1=Hanin I. |author2=Pepeu G. |title=Phospholipids: Biochemical, Pharmaceutical and Analytical Considerations |publisher=Plenum Press |location=New York |year=1990 |pages=325 |isbn=978-1475713664}}{{cite book |author=Giacobini E., Pepeu G. |title=Brain Cholinergic System in Health and Disease |publisher=Informa Healthcare |location=Abingdon |year=2006 |pages=274 |isbn=978-1841845753}}
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://www.sonsci.com/giancarlo-pepeu-memorie-cervello-scienza-medicina-storia-neurologia-neurofisiologia/ Biographies - Giancarlo Pepeu, SISSA]
- [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Giancarlo-Pepeu ResearchGate - Giancarlo Pepeu M.D.]
- [https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/psicofarmacologia_res-949fe654-87f0-11dc-8e9d-0016357eee51_%28Enciclopedia-del-Novecento%29/ Psicopharmacology (Psicofarmacologia)]
- [http://italianpurineclub.altervista.org/purinews.html Obituary and Career of Giancarlo Pepeu, M.D. (1930-2021), University of Florence]
- [https://www.bps.ac.uk/about/about-pharmacology/lives-remembered/lives-remembered/pepeu,-giancarlo Lives Remembered: Giancarlo Pepeu]
- [https://archiviostorico.unica.it/persone/marconcini-ileana Ileana Marconcini] - University of Cagliari
- [https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Ileana-Marconcini-Pepeu-34250035 Research contributions by Ileana Marconcini]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pepeu, Giancarlo}}