A discharge of impulse activity in a group of neuroendocrine cells, the bag cells, produces several types of prolonged responses in various identified neurons of the abdominal ganglion of Aplysia. Two excitatory responses are almost certainly mediated by egg-laying hormone, but this peptide cannot account for other responses, such as inhibition of left upper quadrant neurons. We report here the isolation from bag cell clusters of three structurally similar peptides, seven, eight, and nine residues long, that are candidate transmitters for mediating bag cell-induced inhibition. They may also serve as autoexcitatory transmitters since the seven-residue peptide produces a slow depolarization of the bag cells similar to that which occurs during bag cell discharge. The amino acid sequence of the largest peptide, termed a-bag cell peptide [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9], is H-Ala-Pro-Arg-Leu-Arg-Phe-Tyr-Ser-Leu-OH. The other two peptides are identical to a-BCP[I-9] except that they lack the COOH-terminal Ser-Leu or leucine residues. The three peptides inhibit left upper quadrant neurons at relative potencies of 10:30:1 (seven-, eight-, and nine-residue peptides, respectively). Recent molecular genetic analysis shows that both a-BCP [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] and egg-laying hormone are encoded by the same bag cell-specific gene. The multiple neuronal effects of bag cells are therefore likely to be mediated by at least two transmitters that are cleaved from a common precursor molecule.The marine mollusk Aplysia is a convenient experimental system for investigating at the cellular and molecular levels the roles of neuropeptides as neurotransmitters and in the regulation of behavior. Egg laying in Aplysia is accompanied by a stereotyped behavioral pattern that lasts for several hours. The behavior pattern is thought to be initiated and controlled by the bag cells, a group of neuroendocrine cells located in the abdominal ganglion. In intact animals, egg laying is invariably preceded by a repetitive impulse discharge of the bag cells (1). In the isolated abdominal ganglion, where the central actions of the bag cells have been most extensively studied, a bag cell discharge produces at least four types of long-lasting excitatory and inhibitory effects on various identified neurons (2-4).To identify the neurotransmitters mediating these effects, extracts of bag cells have been purified and assayed for activity on various neurons. It has been determined that egg-laying hormone (ELH), a 4,400-dalton peptide that is synthesized and released by bag cells (5-8), is probably the neurotransmitter mediating two types of excitatory neuronal responses, burst augmentation of cell R15 and prolonged excitation of left lower quadrant (LLQ) neurons (9-11). However, when perfused into the abdominal ganglion at physiological concentrations, purified ELH has little or no effect on left upper quadrant (LUQ) neurons, cells L2-L4, L6, which are normally inhibited by bag cell discharge (10, 11). This indicates that ELH does not directly or in...