Neuropeptides and peptide hormones are involved in the regulation of most if not all body functions, ranging from physiology to neuronal processing and the control of behavior. To assess their functions, it is often vital to determine when and in which quantities they are produced, stored, and released. The latter is especially difficult to assess in small insects, such as the genetically amenable fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, and cannot be achieved merely by quantifying mRNA transcripts. We have adapted and optimized methods to quantify neuropeptides and peptide hormones by metabolic labeling followed by LC-MS. In this chapter, we describe the labeling protocols used in our laboratory and discuss problems and pitfalls that we encountered.
Keywords: Insects; LC-MS; Metabolic labeling; Neuropeptides; Quantitative peptidomics.