title: Suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 in the human hypothalamus.
abstract: In rodents, the mediobasal hypothalamus and the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) are implicated in leptin signaling. Surprisingly little data is available on the human hypothalamus. We set out to study the expression of suppressor-of-cytokine-signaling 3 (SOCS3), α-melanocyte stimulating hormone (αMSH) and agouti-related protein (AgRP) in the infundibular nucleus (IFN) and to investigate the relationship between these neuropeptide expressions and serum leptin concentrations in a blood sample taken within 24h before death. We studied post-mortem human brain material by means of quantitative immunocytochemistry. We found that SOCS3 immunoreactivity was widely distributed throughout the hypothalamus, and most prominent in the PVN, whereas expression levels in the IFN were low. Surprisingly, SOCS3 expression in the PVN was inversely related to serum leptin. A significant positive correlation was observed between AgRP and NPY expression in the IFN. The inverse correlation between SOCS3 expression in the PVN and serum leptin was unexpected and may be related to the hypothalamic adaptation to fatal illness rather than to nutritional status, or may represent an interspecies difference.
authors.affiliation: Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, An Institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. jmalkemade@gmail.com
authors.forename: Anneke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alkemade
authors.forename: Unga A
authors.initials: UA
authors.lastname: Unmehopa
authors.forename: Ellen V S
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Hessel
authors.forename: Dick F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Swaab
authors.forename: Andries
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kalsbeek
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fliers
mesh_terms: D054369:Agouti-Related Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D001111:Arcuate Nucleus of Hypothalamus / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D020738:Leptin / Q000097:blood; D016014:Linear Models; D010286:Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism*; D000071223:Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling 3 Protein; D050826:Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D000521:alpha-MSH / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D054369:Agouti-Related Protein; D020738:Leptin; C106644:SOCS3 protein, human; D000071223:Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling 3 Protein; D050826:Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling Proteins; D000521:alpha-MSH