Central action of CART induces neuronal activation in the paraventricular and dorsomedial hypothalamus of diet-induced obese and lean mice

Publication date: Available online 12 September 2018Source: Neuroscience LettersAuthor(s): Deborah de Paula Romeu, Luciene Maria Ribeiro, Vagner Roberto AntunesAbstractThe cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) is a peptide commonly studied in the feeding behavior, but it exerts an important role in the autonomic and cardiovascular control as well. It is known that exogenous administration of CART in the central nervous system can elicit increase in blood pressure of both conscious and anesthetized rodents, but little is known whether these central effects might differ between lean and obese animals. We have recently shown that diet-induced obese mice that developed hypertension presented an upregulation of CART levels in the dorsomedial nucleus of hypothalamus, while obese normotensive ones had not. Herein we investigate whether the central action of CART could activate differently the hypothalamic nuclei of diet-induced obese mice compared to the lean counterparts by using Fos protein expression,. C57BL/6 mice were randomly assigned to two cohorts, one fed with a high-fat diet for 8 weeks (obese), and the other fed with regular rodent chow (lean). Both groups received an ICV injection of CART at the dose of 400µM, 1 mM or vehicle. Subsequently, the brains were processed for Fos protein immunohistochemical in order to identify hypothalamic neuronal activation. Significantly greater numbers of Fos-positive neurons were observed in the PVN and DMH of obese mic...
Source: Neuroscience Letters - Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research