| 1. |
- Mitra, Anaya, et al.
(författare)
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Chronic sugar intake dampens feeding-related activity of neurons synthesizing a satiety mediator, oxytocin
- 2010
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Ingår i: Peptides. - : Elsevier BV. - 0196-9781 .- 1873-5169. ; 31:7, s. 1346-1352
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Increased tone of orexigens mediating reward occurs upon repeated consumption of sweet foods. Interestingly, some of these reward orexigens, such as opioids, diminish activity of neurons synthesizing oxytocin, a nonapeptide that promotes satiety and feeding termination. It is not known, however, whether consumption-related activity of the central oxytocin system is modified under chronic sugar feeding reward itself. Therefore, we examined how chronic consumption of a rewarding high-sucrose (HS) vs. bland cornstarch (CS) diet affected the activity of oxytocin cells in the hypothalamus at the time of meal termination. Schedule-fed (2h/day) rats received either a HS or CS powdered diet for 20 days. On the 21st day, they were given the same or the opposite diet, and food was removed after the main consummatory activity was completed. Animals were perfused 60 min after feeding termination and brains were immunostained for oxytocin and the marker of neuronal activity, c-Fos. The percentage of c-Fos-positive oxytocin cells in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus was significantly lower in rats chronically exposed to the HS than to the CS diet, regardless of which diet they received on the final day. A similar pattern was observed in the supraoptic nucleus. We conclude that the chronic rather than acute sucrose intake reduces activity of the anorexigenic oxytocin system. These findings indicate that chronic consumption of sugar blunts activity of pathways that mediate satiety. We speculate that a reduction in central satiety signaling precipitated by regular intake of foods high in sugar may lead to generalized overeating.
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| 2. |
- Mitra, Anaya, et al.
(författare)
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Expression levels of genes encoding melanin concentrating hormone (MCH) and MCH receptor change in taste aversion, but MCH injections do not alleviate aversive responses
- 2012
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Ingår i: Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior. - : Elsevier BV. - 0091-3057 .- 1873-5177. ; 100:3, s. 581-586
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Melanin concentrating hormone (MCH) stimulates feeding driven by energy needs and reward and modifies anxiety behavior. Orexigenic peptides of similar characteristics, including nociceptin/orphanin FQ Agouti-related protein and opioids, increase consumption also by reducing avoidance of potentially tainted food in animals displaying a conditioned taste aversion (CTA). Herein, using real-time PCR, we assessed whether expression levels of genes encoding MCH and its receptor, MCHR1, were affected in CTA in the rat. We also investigated whet her injecting MCH intracerebroventricularly (ICV) during the acquisition and retrieval of LiCl-induced CTA, would alleviate aversive responses. MCHR1 gene was upregulated in the hypothalamus and brain stem of aversive animals. MCH mRNA was significantly higher in the hypothalamus, whereas a strong trend suggesting upregulation of MCH and MCHR1 genes was detected in the amygdala. Despite these expression changes associated with aversion, MCH injected prior to the induction of CTA with LiCl as well as later, during the CTA retrieval upon subsequent presentations of the aversive tastant, did not reduce the magnitude of CTA. We conclude that MCH and its receptor form an orexigenic system whose expression is affected in CTA. This altered MCH expression may contribute to tastant-targeted hypophagia in CTA. However, changing the MCH tone in the brain by exogenous peptide was insufficient to prevent the onset or facilitate extinction of Lid-induced CTA. This designates MCH as one of many accessory molecules associated with shaping an aversive response, but not a critical one for LiCl-dependent CFA to occur.
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| 3. |
- Olszewski, Pawel K., et al.
(författare)
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Fto colocalizes with a satiety mediator oxytocin in the brain and upregulates oxytocin gene expression
- 2011
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Ingår i: Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications - BBRC. - : Elsevier BV. - 0006-291X .- 1090-2104. ; 408:3, s. 422-426
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene have been associated with obesity in humans. Alterations in Fto expression in transgenic animals affect body weight, energy expenditure and food intake. Fto, a nuclear protein and proposed transcription co-factor, has been speculated to affect energy balance through a functional relationship with specific genes encoding feeding-related peptides. Herein, we employed double immunohistochemistry and showed that the majority of neurons synthesizing a satiety mediator, oxytocin, coexpress Fto in the brain of male and female mice. We then overexpressed Fto in a murine hypothalamic cell line and, using qPCR, detected a 50% increase in the level of oxytocin mRNA. Expression levels of several other feeding-related genes, including neuropeptide V (NPY) and Agouti-related protein (AgRP), were unaffected by the FTO transfection. Addition of 10 and 100 nmol oxytocin to the cell culture medium did not affect Fto expression in hypothalamic cells. We conclude that Fto, a proposed transcription co-factor, influences expression of the gene encoding a satiety mediator, oxytocin.
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