Neuropeptide Y and Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone Concentrations within Specific Hypothalamic Regions of Lean but Not Ob/ob Mice Respond to Food-Deprivation and Refeeding

Manuscript received 3 June 1998. Initial reviews completed 27 July 1998. Revision accepted 1 September 1998.

Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1224

Leptin is proposed to control food intake at least in part by regulating hypothalamic neuropeptide Y (NPY), a stimulator of food intake, and corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), an inhibitor of food intake. Ob/ob mice are leptin-deficient and would thus be expected to exhibit alterations in hypothalamic NPY and CRH. We therefore measured concentrations of NPY and CRH in discrete regions of the hypothalamus (i.e., ARC, arcuate nucleus; PVN, paraventricular nucleus; VMH, ventromedial nucleus; DMH, dorsomedial nucleus; and SCN, suprachiasmatic nucleus) of 6.5-7-wk-old ob/ob and lean mice with free access to stock diet, 24 h after food deprivation, and 1 h after refeeding. Fed ob/ob mice had 55-75% higher concentrations of NPY in the ARC, VMH and SCN than lean mice. Food deprivation increased NPY concentrations ~70% in the ARC, PVN and VMH of lean mice, and refeeding lowered NPY concentrations ~70% in the PVN of these mice. NPY in these hypothalamic regions of ob/ob mice was unresponsive to food deprivation or refeeding. The most pronounced change in CRH concentrations within the regions examined (i.e., ARC, PVN and VMH) occurred in the ARC of lean mice where refeeding lowered CRH concentrations by 75% without influencing ARC CRH concentrations in ob/ob mice. The hypothalamic concentrations of two neuropeptides involved in body weight regulation (i.e., NPY and CRH) in leptin-deficient ob/ob mice respond abnormally to abrupt changes in nutritional status.

The Journal of Nutrition Vol. 128 No. 12 December 1998, pp. 2520-2525
Copyright ©1998 by the American Society for Nutritional Sciences

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. M. Kublaoui, T. Gemelli, K. P. Tolson, Y. Wang, and A. R. Zinn Oxytocin Deficiency Mediates Hyperphagic Obesity of Sim1 Haploinsufficient Mice Mol. Endocrinol., July 1, 2008; 22(7): 1723 - 1734. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. S. Kauffman, K. Bojkowska, A. Wills, and E. F. Rissman Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone-II Messenger Ribonucleic Acid and Protein Content in the Mammalian Brain Are Modulated by Food Intake Endocrinology, November 1, 2006; 147(11): 5069 - 5077. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B Beck Neuropeptide Y in normal eating and in genetic and dietary-induced obesity Phil Trans R Soc B, July 29, 2006; 361(1471): 1159 - 1185. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Schulz, K. Paulus, and H. Lehnert Central Nervous and Metabolic Effects of Intranasally Applied Leptin Endocrinology, June 1, 2004; 145(6): 2696 - 2701. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. W. Hill and J. E. Levine Abnormal Response of the Neuropeptide Y-Deficient Mouse Reproductive Axis to Food Deprivation But Not Lactation Endocrinology, May 1, 2003; 144(5): 1780 - 1786. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				I. Swart, J. W. Jahng, J. M. Overton, and T. A. Houpt Hypothalamic NPY, AGRP, and POMC mRNA responses to leptin and refeeding in mice Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, November 1, 2002; 283(5): R1020 - R1026. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Jang, A. Mistry, A. G. Swick, and D. R. Romsos Leptin Rapidly Inhibits Hypothalamic Neuropeptide Y Secretion and Stimulates Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone Secretion in Adrenalectomized Mice J. Nutr., November 1, 2000; 130(11): 2813 - 2820. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. K. Narnaware, P. P. Peyon, X. Lin, and R. E. Peter Regulation of food intake by neuropeptide Y in goldfish Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol, September 1, 2000; 279(3): R1025 - R1034. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]