Leanness in postnatally nutritionally programmed rats is associated with increased sensitivity to leptin and a melanocortin receptor agonist and decreased sensitivity to neuropeptide Y.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Pups of normally nourished dams that are cross-fostered after birth to dams fed a low-protein (8% by weight) diet (postnatal low protein (PLP)) grow slower during the suckling period and remain small and lean throughout adulthood. At weaning, they have increased expression in the arcuate nucleus (ARC) of the hypothalamus of the orexigenic neuropeptide Y (NPY) and decreased expression of pro-opiomelanocortin, the precursor of anorexigenic melanocortins.

Objectives and methods

We investigated, using third ventricle administration, whether 3-month-old male PLP rats display altered sensitivity to leptin with respect to food intake, NPY and the melanocortin 3/4-receptor agonist MTII, and using in situ hybridization or laser capture microdissection of the ARC followed b

SUBMITTER: Stocker CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3378483 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature