Activation of Anxiogenic Circuits Instigates Resistance to Diet-Induced Obesity via Increased Energy Expenditure.

ABSTRACT: Anxiety disorders are associated with body weight changes in humans. However, the mechanisms underlying anxiety-induced weight changes remain poorly understood. Using Emx1^Cre/+ mice, we deleted the gene for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in the cortex, hippocampus, and some amygdalar subregions. The resulting mutant mice displayed impaired GABAergic transmission and elevated anxiety. They were leaner when fed either a chow diet or a high-fat diet, owing to higher sympathetic activity, basal metabolic rate, brown adipocyte thermogenesis, and beige adipocyte formation, compared to control mice. BDNF re-expression in the amygdala rescued the anxiety and metabolic phenotypes in mutant mice. Conversely, anxiety induced by amygdala-specific Bdnf deletion or administration of

SUBMITTER: Xie X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6507421 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature