68 research outputs found
Fat-Pad Specific Effects of Lipectomy on Appetitive and Consummatory Ingestive Behaviors in Siberian Hamsters (Phodopus sungorus)
No full textThe aim of this experiment was to test whether LIPX-induced decreases in body fat affect appetitive (foraging effort and food hoarding) or consummatory (food intake) ingestive behaviors and whether the effects of LIPX on these behaviors is in turn affected by changes in energy expenditure produced by varying the amount of work required to obtain food. This was accomplished by housing male Siberian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) in a foraging/hoarding apparatus where food pellets (75 mg) could be earned by completing various wheel running requirements. Requiring a foraging effort (10 revolutions/pellet) abolished the normal compensation of WAT mass by the non-excised WAT pads that typically follows IWATx or EWATx. After foraging, food hoarding was increased more than food intake when hamsters were required to forage for food (10 revolutions/pellet). The magnitude of the LIPX-induced lipid deficit (IWATx \u3e EWATx) did not correspond to a proportional change in either appetitive or consummatory ingestive behaviors
Central nervous system origins of the sympathetic nervous system outflow to white adipose tissue
No full textWhite adipose tissue (WAT) is innervated by postganglionic sympathetic nervous system (SNS) neurons, suggesting that lipid mobilization could be regulated by the SNS [T. G. Youngstrom and T. J. Bartness. Am. J. Physiol. 268 ( Regulatory Integrative Comp. Physiol. 37): R744–R751, 1995]. A viral transsynaptic retrograde tract tracer, the pseudorabies virus (PRV), was used to identify the origins of the SNS outflow from the brain to WAT neuroanatomically. PRV was injected into epididymal or inguinal WAT (EWAT and IWAT, respectively) of Siberian hamsters and IWAT of rats. PRV-infected neurons were visualized by immunocytochemistry and found in the spinal cord, brain stem (medulla, nucleus of the solitary tract, caudal raphe nucleus, C1 and A5 regions), midbrain (central gray), and several areas within the forebrain. The general pattern of infection of WAT in both species was more similar than different and resembled that seen after PRV injections into the adrenal medulla in rats (A. M. Strack, W. B. Sawyer, J. H. Hughes, K. B. Platt, and A. D. Loewy. Brain Res. 491: 156–162, 1989). EWAT versus IWAT injected hamsters had relatively less labeling in the suprachiasmatic, dorsomedial, and arcuate nuclei. Overall, it appeared that the SNS innervation of WAT originates from the general SNS outflow of the central nervous system and therefore may play a significant role in lipid mobilization.</jats:p
A Potential Link between Dorsomedial Hypothalamic Nucleus NPY and Energy Balance
No full textThe function of dorsomedial hypothalamic neuropeptide Y (NPY) in energy balance has largely been restricted to lactation-induced hyperphagia. In this issue, Chao et al. (2011) expand this role to include inhibition of both brown fat thermogenesis and conversion of white-to-brown adipocytes in a white fat depot, resulting in reduced energy expenditure
Agout-related protein increases food hoarding more than food intake in Siberian hamsters
No full textAgouti-related protein increases food hoarding more than food intake in Siberian hamsters. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 286: R38–R45, 2004. First published September 18, 2003; 10.1152/ajpregu.00284.2003.—Ag¬outi-related protein (AgRP), an endogenous melanocortin 3/4 receptor antagonist, appears to play an important role in the control of food intake and energy balance because exogenous administration in rats and overexpression in mice result in hyperphagia and body mass gain. Furthermore, arcuate nucleus AgRP mRNA is increased with fasting in laboratory rats and mice and is decreased with refeeding. In Siberian hamsters, fasting also increases arcuate nucleus AgRP mRNA, but these animals increase food hoarding, rather than food intake with refeeding. Therefore, we tested whether exogenous AgRP increased food hoarding in this species. Hamsters were trained in a hoarding/foraging apparatus to run a programmed number of wheel revolutions to earn food pellets. Four doses of AgRP-(83–132) or vehicle were injected into the third ventricle at the beginning of the dark phase, and food hoarding, food intake, and foraging were measured at various time points subsequently. Overall, food hoarding was stimulated as much as 10 times more than food intake, and both responses occurred as early as 1 h after injection. Food hoarding was increased the greatest at the lowest dose (0.1 nmol), whereas food intake was increased the greatest at the second lowest dose (1 nmol). Food intake and especially food hoarding were increased up to seven days after the AgRP injections. Foraging was increased at all AgRP doses except the highest dose (100 nmol). These results suggest that AgRP triggers the search for food in this species, and once they find it, hoarding predominates over eating
Effects of foraging effort on body fat and food hoarding by Siberian hamsters
No full textFood hoard size varies inversely with body fat levels in Siberian hamsters. If food hoarding only increases when body fat decreases, then hamsters foraging for their food should only increase food hoarding when foraging efforts decrease body fat (“lipostatic hypothesis”); how¬ever, if food hoarding increases whenever there is an energy flux away from fat storage, then it should increase regardless of significant body fat decreases (“metabolic hypothesis”). Female Sibe¬rian hamsters (Phodopus sungorus) earned food pellets after completion of a programmed number of wheel revolutions (Immobilized Wheel [free access to food], Free Wheel [wheel active, free food], and 10, 50, 100, and 200 revolutions/pellet). Hamsters were killed after 19 days and inguinal, retroperitoneal, and parametrial white adipose tissue (WAT) pads (IWAT, RWAT, and PWAT, re¬spectively) were harvested and carcass composition determined. Food hoard size increased four¬fold with the availability of running wheels alone (Free Wheel), increased threefold with low foraging levels (10 and 50 revolutions/pellet), but was nearly abolished at the highest foraging level (200 revolutions/pellet). Surplus food (earned, not eaten or hoarded) was significantly greatest at the lowest level of foraging. As foraging effort increased, PWAT mass decreased the most (<10 revolu¬tions/pellet), while RWAT and IWAT mass only were decreased at the highest foraging effort. Carcass lipid content only was significantly decreased at the highest foraging effort, yet food hoard¬ing was nearly abolished at that level. Collectively, these results demonstrate that body fat levels and food hoarding can be uncoupled with increases in foraging effort. J. Exp. Zool. 289:162–171, 2001. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc
Dual innervation of white adipose tissue: some evidence for parasympathetic nervous system involvement
No full textDual innervation of white adipose tissue: some evidence for parasympathetic nervous system involvement
No full textAttenuated Effects of Opiates in Adolescent vs. Adult Male Rats: Reinforcement, Relapse, and Withdrawal
No full textAdolescence in humans is a vulnerable period for illicit drug use, and teenage onset of drug use is associated with long-term addiction. Adolescent sensitivity to drug reinforcement, relapse, and withdrawal has not been explored thoroughly in animal models, especially considering opiate drugs such as morphine and heroin. The present series of studies profiles adolescent sensitivity to opiates using adolescent and adult male rats to test for age differences in opiate self-administration, reinstatement, withdrawal signs, locomotor sensitization, and even brain activation during drug-seeking. To test for acute sensitivity to the reinforcing effects of morphine or heroin, we compared patterns of self-administration by adolescent vs. adult male rats on various schedules of reinforcement, drug doses, and daily access conditions. Using fixed ratio schedules and short daily access, adolescents self-administered less morphine than adults, an effect commonly interpreted as higher drug sensitivity. In contrast, escalation of morphine intake under long access conditions was similar across ages, as was heroin intake using fixed or progressive ratio schedules of reinforcement. To test for enduring effects of opiates, we compared opiate-seeking in the absence of the drug in tests of extinction responding and cue-induced reinstatement. Regardless of the acute effects of morphine or heroin, all adolescent treatment groups showed attenuated opiate-seeking compared to adults. Next we considered behavioral correlates of reinforcement, drug withdrawal and locomotor sensitization, during and after escalating doses of experimenter-administered heroin. Consistent with attenuated opiate-seeking, adolescents exhibited attenuated somatic and locomotor signs of withdrawal compared with adults, although locomotor sensitization was similar across ages. Finally, the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is a brain region heavily implicated in drug reinforcement, so we used tissue levels of Fos-like immunoreactivity to compare activation of this region by heroin-seeking. Indeed mPFC activation was absent in rats that self-administered heroin as adolescents, but robust in adults. Together these behavioral and neuroanatomical results surprisingly suggest that adolescent male rats are less sensitive than adults to some acute and enduring effects of opiates, and may predict better response profiles among younger human addicts. Through future studies, adolescent rats may provide a new model to help identify treatments for drug abuse
Viral Labeling of the CNS Origins of the Sympathetic Nervous System Innervation of Brown Adipose Tissue: Implications for Torpor and Hibernation Responses
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