title: Hypothalamic paraventricular injections of ghrelin: effect on feeding and c-Fos immunoreactivity.
abstract: The paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVN) appears to integrate orexigenic properties of a novel peptide, ghrelin. Thus, we examined central mechanisms underlying feeding generated by intra-PVN ghrelin. We established that 0.03 nmol of PVN-injected ghrelin was the lowest dose increasing food consumption and it induced c-Fos immunoreactivity (a marker of neuronal activation) in the PVN itself, as well as in other feeding-related brain areas, including the hypothalamic arcuate and dorsomedial nuclei, central nucleus of the amygdala, and nucleus of the solitary tract. We conclude that the PVN, as part of larger central circuitry, mediates orexigenic properties of ghrelin.
authors.affiliation: Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 1 Veterans Drive, Research Route 151, Minneapolis, MN 55417, USA.
authors.forename: Pawel K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Olszewski
authors.forename: Martha K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Grace
authors.forename: Charles J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Billington
authors.forename: Allen S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Levine
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D054439:Ghrelin; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular; D008297:Male; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester / Q000494:pharmacology; D036361:Peptide Hormones / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000032:analysis* / Q000276:immunology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D054439:Ghrelin; D036361:Peptide Hormones; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D019331:NG-Nitroarginine Methyl Ester