Decrease of norepinephrine and preservation of acetylcholine in the hypothalamus of VMH obese rats.
We investigated to find which types of neuronal disturbance in the hypothalamus are responsible for ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH) lesion-induced development of obesity. We found that in VMH-lesioned obese rats, the contents of norepinephrine (NE) and dopamine in the hypothalamus were selectively decreased, but that the serotonin and acetylcholine levels were unchanged from those in sham controls. Also, the content of NE in the lateral portion of the hypothalamus was decreased. Our results show that disturbance of the hypothalamic noradrenergic and dopaminergic neurons, but not of the serotonergic or cholinergic neurons, contributes to the development of VMH lesion-induced obesity.
Takahashi
A
A
Department of Neuropsychopharmacology (Tsumura), Gunma University School of Medicine, Japan.
Ishimaru
H
H
Ikarashi
Y
Y
Maruyama
Y
Y
D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000378:metabolism*; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000378:metabolism*; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism; D014697:Ventromedial Hypothalamic Nucleus / Q000502:physiology*
D012701:Serotonin; D000109:Acetylcholine; D004298:Dopamine; D009638:Norepinephrine