Hypothalamic neuropeptide Y levels in weaning offspring of low-protein malnourished mother rats.
Maternal low-protein malnutrition during gestation and lactation (LP) is an animal model frequently used for the investigation of long-term deleterious consequences of perinatal growth retardation. Hypothalamic neuropeptides are decisively involved in the central nervous regulation of body weight and metabolism. We investigated neuropeptide Y (NPY) in distinct hypothalamic nuclei in the offspring of LP mother rats at the end of the critical hypothalamic differentiation period (20th day of life). Weanling LP offspring were underweight (P< 0.001) and hypoinsulinaemic (P< 0.05), while leptin levels were unchanged. NPY was significantly increased in the paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVN) (P< 0.01) and lateral hypothalamic area (P< 0.05) in LP offspring. In contrast, NPY was unchanged in the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMN). These observations indicate a leptin-independent stimulation of the orexigenic ARC-PVN axis in undernourished LP rats at weaning. Furthermore a disturbed NPYergic regulation of the VMN is suggested, possibly contributing to alterations of the hypothalamic regulation of body weight and metabolism in LP offspring during life.
Plagemann
A
A
Institute of Experimental Endocrinology, Humboldt University Medical School (Charité), Berlin, 10098, Germany. andreas.plagemann@charite.de
Waas
T
T
Harder
T
T
Rittel
F
F
Ziska
T
T
Rohde
W
W
D000818:Animals; D001111:Arcuate Nucleus of Hypothalamus / Q000378:metabolism; D001835:Body Weight; D005260:Female; D007026:Hypothalamic Area, Lateral / Q000378:metabolism; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000378:metabolism*; D007328:Insulin / Q000097:blood; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008473:Median Eminence / Q000378:metabolism; D009478:Neuropeptide Y / Q000378:metabolism*; D010286:Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects; D011502:Protein-Energy Malnutrition; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D014697:Ventromedial Hypothalamic Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D014886:Weaning
D007328:Insulin; D020738:Leptin; D009478:Neuropeptide Y