title: Developmental overfeeding alters hypothalamic neuropeptide mRNA levels and response to a high-fat diet in adult mice.
abstract: It has been suggested that nutritional manipulations during the first weeks of life can alter the development of the hypothalamic circuits involved in energy homeostasis. We studied the expression of a large number of the hypothalamic neuropeptide mRNAs that control body weight in mice that were overfed during breastfeeding (mice grown in a small litter, SL) and/or during adolescence (adolescent mice fed a high-fat diet, AHF). We also investigated possible alterations in mRNA levels after 50 days of a high-fat diet (high-fat challenge, CHF) at 19 weeks of age. Both SL and AHF conditions caused overweight during the period of developmental overfeeding. During adulthood, all of the mouse groups fed a CHF significantly gained weight in comparison with mice fed a low-fat diet, but the mice that had undergone both breast and adolescent overfeeding (SL-AHF-CHF mice) gained significantly more weight than the control CHF mice. Of the ten neuropeptide mRNAs studied, only neuropeptide Y (NPY) expression was decreased in all of the groups of developmentally overfed adult mice, but CHF during adulthood by itself induced a decrease in NPY, agouti-related protein (AgRP) and orexin (Orx) mRNA levels. Moreover, in the developmentally overfed CHF mice NPY, AgRP, galanin (GAL) and galanin-like peptide (GalP) mRNA levels significantly decreased in comparison with the control CHF mice. These results show that, during adulthood, hypothalamic neuropeptide systems are altered (NPY) and/or abnormally respond to a high-fat diet (NPY, AgRP, GAL and GalP) in mice overfed during critical developmental periods.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Physiology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 287, 41125 Modena, Italy. 62987@studenti.unimore.it
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ferretti
authors.forename: Alice
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fornari
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pedrazzi
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pellegrini
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zoli
mesh_terms: D054369:Agouti-Related Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D018752:Diet, Fat-Restricted; D055423:Diet, Ketogenic / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D005260:Female; D019004:Galanin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D044089:Galanin-Like Peptide / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015870:Gene Expression; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D009478:Neuropeptide Y / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000068797:Orexins; D044343:Overnutrition / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D054369:Agouti-Related Protein; D004041:Dietary Fats; D044089:Galanin-Like Peptide; D047908:Intracellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D009478:Neuropeptide Y; D009479:Neuropeptides; D000068797:Orexins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D019004:Galanin