The first gut peptide to be implicated in the control of appetite was cholecystokinin (CCK). CCK is derived from a 115-amino acid precursor, pro-CCK, and selective cleavage gives rise to a number of bioactive forms (
Rehfeld 2004). Biological activity resides in the amidated C-terminus of the peptide and all the active species of CCK share a C-terminal heptapeptide sequence that also includes an O-sulphated tyrosine. The major circulating forms in man are CCK-58, -33, -22 and -8 (
Rehfeld et al. 2001). Non-sulphated forms of CCK also exist, but they constitute minor species of peptide and their biological role remains unclear.
CCK is synthesized in a number of tissues in humans, including the I-cells of the small intestine (
Buffa et al. 1976), from where it is rapidly released into the circulation in response to a meal (
Liddle et al. 1985). The basal plasma concentration of CCK is approximately 1

pM, and levels rise to 5–8

pM postprandially (
Liddle et al. 1985), although many assays for CCK also detect fragments of the peptide. Whether all the CCK measured in plasma is bioactive remains to be established. The concentration of CCK in the circulation remains elevated for up to 5

hours after a meal, and dietary fat and protein, or the products of their digestion, are more potent stimulators of CCK release than carbohydrate (
Liddle et al. 1985).
CCK also has a dual role as a neurotransmitter, in both the enteric and CNSs (
Barden et al. 1981;
Hutchison et al. 1981). The post-translational modification of CCK is tissue-specific, with CCK-8 the predominant form in nervous tissue, whereas longer species are preferentially synthesized in the endocrine cells of the gut (
Rehfeld et al. 2003).
Two G-protein-coupled receptors for CCK have been identified and may be distinguished by their characteristic pharmacological profiles (
Wank 1995). Previously known as the CCK-A and gastrin/CCK-B receptors, they are now designated the CCK-1 and CCK-2 receptors, respectively. Both receptor subtypes are distributed throughout the CNS and gut, although CCK-1 receptors predominate in the alimentary tract, and CCK-2 receptors in the brain (
Wank 1995).
CCK acts to cause gallbladder contraction, relaxation of the sphincter of Oddi, stimulation of somatostatin release (and thus inhibition of gastric acid secretion) and stimulation of pancreatic growth and enzyme release via the CCK-1 receptor (
Wank 1995). The CCK-2 receptor has been implicated in schizophrenic and anxiety states, and other CNS actions of CCK (
Wank 1995;
Zachrisson et al. 1999;
Miyasaka et al. 2002). Inevitably, however, the overlap in distribution is reflected in an overlap in function (
Morisset et al. 2000;
Sanjuan et al. 2004;
Jang et al. 2005). Moreover, the hormone gastrin is structurally related to CCK, and its actions on the gastric mucosa are mediated via the CCK-2 receptor, which also binds gastrin with high affinity (
Dockray et al. 2001).
In addition to those effects summarized above, CCK also alters appetite.
Gibbs et al. (1973) first demonstrated a dose-dependent effect of exogenous CCK in reducing food intake in rats. This effect occurred without evidence of toxicity and was specific to food intake, CCK having no effect on water intake in water-deprived rats. This finding was subsequently confirmed in humans, in whom an intravenous infusion of the terminal octapeptide of CCK reduced meal size and duration (
Kissileff et al. 1981). This effect of CCK is short-lived. When administered more than 30

minutes prior to the start of a meal, CCK did not alter food intake (
Gibbs et al. 1973).
The mechanism by which CCK might exert this effect on appetite is still a matter of ongoing debate. It has been proposed that the inhibitory effect of CCK on gastrointestinal motility, and, in particular, its inhibition of gastric emptying, might be contributory to its inhibitory actions on feeding. Some authors have suggested that in this way, CCK may promote stimulation of gastric mechanoreceptors, and thus invoke neural feedback from the gut to appetite centres in the brain. In support of this hypothesis, low doses of CCK reduced food intake in rhesus monkeys only after a gastric preload of saline (
Moran & McHugh 1982). Similarly, in humans, gastric distension was found to augment the reduction of nutrient intake effected by intravenous CCK-8 (
Kissileff et al. 2003). The use of antagonists to the serotonin receptor subtype 3 (5-HT
3) has recently pointed towards a role for serotonin in the mediation of this effect (
Hayes et al. 2004).
However, CCK also alters food intake through other pathways that are independent of its effects on the stomach (
Moran & McHugh 1988). While the induction of satiety at higher doses of CCK may be attenuated by surgical removal of the pyloric sphincter, lower doses continue to be effective in inhibiting food intake. Lesioning of the vagus nerve abolishes the effects of CCK at the lower doses of the dose–response curve (
Moran & Kinzig 2004). The induction of satiety by CCK at physiological concentrations may therefore rely crucially on direct activation of vagal afferent fibres. Others, however, argue that our notion of ‘physiological levels’ of CCK has been inaccurate in the past due to deficiencies in the assays used, and that the reduction of food intake seen with CCK is pharmacological rather than physiological (
Lieverse et al. 1993;
Baldwin et al. 1998;
Rehfeld 1998).
CCK-1 receptors are present on afferent fibres of the vagus nerve, and also in the brainstem and dorsomedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (DMH). The use of specific CCK-1 and CCK-2 receptor antagonists has implicated the CCK-1 receptor in the reduction of food intake by CCK (
Moran et al. 1992). Chronic administration of CCK-1 receptor antagonists or anti-CCK antibodies accelerates weight gain in rodents, though without significant hyperphagia (
McLaughlin et al. 1985;
Meereis-Schwanke et al. 1998). The Otsuka–Long–Evans–Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rat, which lacks CCK-1 receptors, is both hyperphagic and obese (
Moran et al. 1998;
Schwartz et al. 1999). Peripherally administered CCK induces
c-fos, a marker of neuronal activity, in the brainstem (
Zittel et al. 1999), and food intake in rats is also reduced following direct injection of CCK into a number of hypothalamic nuclei (
Blevins et al. 2000). Work in OLETF rats has implicated the orexigenic peptide NPY in the mediation of the effects of CCK in the DMH (
Bi et al. 2001). Thus, the anorectic effects of CCK appear to be mediated by a number of mechanisms, both direct and indirect.
The usefulness of CCK as a therapeutic target in the treatment of obesity, however, may be limited by the short-lived nature of its effects on appetite. Repeated administration does not alter body weight in rats, for although food intake is reduced, meal frequency increases, and so overall intake is unchanged (
West et al. 1984,
1987a,
b). When given to rats as a continuous intraperitoneal infusion, the anorectic effect of CCK is lost after 24

hours (
Crawley & Beinfeld 1983) and Glaxo-Smithkline recently halted trials of its CCK-1 receptor antagonist 181771 after the results made it commercially non-viable (
Fong 2005). From the point of view of body weight regulation, CCK may play more of an indirect role in its interaction with signals of longer-term energy balance, such as leptin (
Matson et al. 2000;
Morton et al. 2005). The therapeutic potential of this relationship remains to be determined and the physiological or pharmacological nature of the actions of CCK on food intake also awaits further clarification.