title: Chronic renal failure impacts the expression of ghrelin and its receptor in hypothalamus and hippocampus.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Ghrelin plays a central role in the regulation of gastrointestinal (GI) motility. This study aimed to investigate the expression of ghrelin and growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR) in the central nervous system of rats with chronic renal failure (CRF).
  
  
  METHODS
  Sprague-Dawley rats (male, 180 ± 20 g, n = 24) were treated by 5/6 nephrectomy to construct CRF model. As their plasma creatinine concentration and blood urea nitrogen were maintained more than double the normal level for 2 weeks, they were killed for assessing the expression of ghrelin and GHSR in hypothalamus and hippocampus using immunohistochemistry and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The rats (male, 180 ± 20 g, n = 24) treated by Sham operation served as a control. One-way analysis of variance and Student-Newman-Keuls q test were used to analyze group difference and a p-value of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Compared with the controls, the ghrelin and GHSR expression was obviously increased in the hippocampus (p < 0.05) but decreased in the hypothalamus of rats with CRF (p < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CRF was found to impact the expression of ghrelin and GHSR in hypothalamus and hippocampus. This might be associated with the CRF-induced GI motility dysfunction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Second Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, PR China.
authors.forename: Rong-Guo
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Gang-Lian
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Rong-Liang
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Heng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ge
authors.forename: Shu-Ting
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Li-Qun
authors.initials: LQ
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Hong-Li
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015870:Gene Expression; D054439:Ghrelin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism*; D007031:Hypothalamus / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007676:Kidney Failure, Chronic / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D054440:Receptors, Ghrelin / Q000378:metabolism*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D054439:Ghrelin; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D054440:Receptors, Ghrelin