title: Immunoreactive neurotensin in spontaneous syndromes of obesity and diabetes in mice.
abstract: Immunoreactive neurotensin was measured in plasma and acid-ethanol extracts of brain, intestine and pancreas of obese hyperglycaemic (ob/ob) mice of the Aston strain, C57BL/KsJ diabetes-obese (db/db) mice, and their respective lean controls. In lean mice, the intestine was the major source of neurotensin (156-194 mg/g wet weight and 169-361 ng/intestine), with smaller amounts in the brain (33-43 ng/g and 13-17 ng/brain), pancreas (0.8-1.1 ng/g and 0.28-0.32 ng/pancreas) and plasma (50-100 pg/ml). Compared with lean controls, ob/ob and db/db mice exhibited 13 and 23% decreases in brain weight, and 37 and 82% increases in intestinal weight. Concentrations of neurotensin in plasma and brain were similar in lean and obese-diabetic mutant mice, but the total content of brain neurotensin was 25% lower in ob/ob mice. Neurotensin was unchanged in the pancreas of db/db mice. However, raised concentrations and total contents of neurotensin were observed in the pancreas of ob/ob mice (72 and 57%, respectively) and the intestine of both ob/ob (56 and 118%) and db/db (35 and 144%) mice. These observations raise the possibility that increased neurotensin concentrations might exert local effects in the intestine and pancreas which contribute to the pathogenesis of obesity-diabetes syndromes in mice.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000378:metabolism*; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D008820:Mice, Obese; D009496:Neurotensin / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D009765:Obesity / Q000378:metabolism*; D009929:Organ Size; D010179:Pancreas / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose; D007328:Insulin; D009496:Neurotensin