title: Prokineticin 2 is involved in the thermoregulation and energy expenditure.
abstract: Animals have developed adaptive strategies to survive tough situations such as food shortage. However, the underlying molecular mechanism is not fully understood. Here, we provided evidence that the regulatory peptide prokineticin 2 (PK2) played an important role in such an adaptation. The PK2 expression was rapidly induced in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) after fasting, which can be mimicked by 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) injection. The fasting-induced arousal was absent in the PK2-deficient (PK2(-/-)) mice. Furthermore, PK2(-/-) mice showed less energy expenditure and body weight loss than wild-type (WT) controls upon fasting. As a result, PK2(-/-) mice entered torpor after fasting. Supply of limited food (equal to 5% of body weight) daily during fasting rescued the body weight loss and hypothermal phenotype in WT mice, but not in PK2(-/-) mice. Our study thus demonstrated PK2 as a regulator in the thermoregulation and energy expenditure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
authors.forename: Wenbai
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Jia-Da
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Wang-Ping
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Michelle Y
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Qun-Yong
authors.initials: QY
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D003847:Deoxyglucose / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods; D002149:Energy Intake / Q000502:physiology; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005215:Fasting / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005508:Food Deprivation; D005768:Gastrointestinal Hormones / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000378:metabolism; D010286:Paraventricular Hypothalamic Nucleus; D010641:Phenotype
chemical_list: D005768:Gastrointestinal Hormones; D009479:Neuropeptides; C486586:Prok2 protein, mouse; D003847:Deoxyglucose; D010100:Oxygen