• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.34 no.7
• /
• pp.727-733
• /
• 2001

The present study was conducted to identify the mechanism about the regulation of appetite by examining the expression patterns of neuropeptide Y in the hypothalamus of mice either fasting mouse for 24 hours or with anorexia mutant mouse. In order to investigate the patterns of expression of neurpeptide Y, immunohistochemistry was employed for measurements at the tissue level, along with the molecular biological techniques of reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) and dot blotting. The results of this study are as follows. The level of expression of neruopeptide Y, a neuropeptide known to enhance appetite, was shown to be lowered in the arcuate nucleus(ARC), paraventricular nucleus(PVN), lateral hypothalamic area(LHA), and dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus(DMN) in both the fasting and anorexia mutant groups when measured via immunohistochemistry, a tissue-level method. RT-PCR and dot blotting, the molecular biological methods employed in this study, revealed that the level of neuropeptide Y mRNA in the entire hypothalamus was similar in the control and fasting groups and lower in the anorexia mutant group. The results of the present study showed that while the levels of expression of the neuropeptide Y in the various hypothalamic regions studied did not exhibit regular increases or decreases when measured immunohistochemically. But the entire hypothalamus via molecular biological methods showed that the changes in these levels were more definite in the anorexia mutant group than in the fasting group.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.33 no.1
• /
• pp.5-12
• /
• 2000

The control of food intake is a complex phenomenon caused by interactions between central and peripheral control mechanisms. The hypothalamic and brain stem regions have been identified as centers for food intake and energy expenditure in animals and humans. Of these, the ventromedial and lateral hypothalamic areas are involved in the control of food intake. Also, large amounts of neurotransmitters known to be involved in feeding are present in the hippocampus. Paricularly, tryptophan hydroxylase(TPH), known as a factor in the control of food intake, is present in high levels in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and the hippocampus. In this study, TPH expression levels in the hypothalamic and hippocampal regions of fasting, anorexia mutant, and control mice were compared using RT-PCR and immunohistochemical methods. Differences in body weight among the fasting, anorexia mutant, and control groups wire observed. No statistical significance was noted in the number of TPH-immunoactivity in the hypothalamic nuclei, but relatively higher populations of such fibers were observed in the fasting group : the control group yielded samples with an overall value of 170.3${\pm}$3.5 in terms of immunoreactivity-induced optical density, whereas the fasting group yielded a value of 168.3${\pm}$2.6, and the anorexia mutant group 171.3${\pm}$0.8(lower values represent higher immunoreactivity), In fasting mice, stained neuronal bodies were observed in the CA3 and dentate gyrus regions of the hippocampus, which was different from the hippocampal regions of the control and anorexia mutant mice. The RT-PCR procedures were performed using whole brains, precluding any statistically noticeable findings in relation to specific regions, although the fasting and anorexia mutant groups showed 123.3% and 102.9%, respectively, of the TPH mRNA level in the control. The overall results present evidences of the role of TPH in the decrease in food intake during fasting caused by exogenic factors and in genetically acquired anorexia. (Korean J Nutrition 33(1) : 5-12, 2000)

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.937-942
• /
• 2001

The present study was conducted to identify the mechanism about the regulation of appetite by examining the expression patterns of vasoactive intestinal peptide in the hypothalamus of either fasted for 24 hours or anorexia mutant mouse. In order to investigate expression pattern of the vasoactive intestinal peptide, immunohisto-chemistry was employed along with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and dot blotting. Immunohistochemistry has shown that level of expression of vasoactive intestinal peptide and appetite-suppessing neuropeptide, was lower in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) and higher in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the anorexia mutant group than in the comparable regions in the control group. This pattern was repeated in the fasting group, which also showed lower and higher levels of vasoactive intestinal peptide expression in the SCN and PVN respectively, In contrast, the vasoactive intestinal peptide mRNA level in the entire hypothalamus via RT-PCR and dot blotting was similar in the fasting and control groups, while it was significantly increased in the anorexia mutant group.