title: Nesfatin-1 influences the excitability of glucosensing neurons in the dorsal vagal complex and inhibits food intake.
abstract: Nesfatin-1 is a recently discovered metabolic peptide hormone that decreases food intake after lateral, third, or fourth brain ventricle; cisterna magna; or paraventricular nucleus (PVN) injection in ad libitum fed rats. Additional micro-injection studies will improve the understanding of how nesfatin-1 acts on the brain and define specific nuclei responsive to nesfatin-1, which will provide insight on its effects on food intake. We evaluated how nesfatin-1 injection into the dorsal vagal complex (DVC) modulates food intake response in rats during the dark phase. Consistent with previous observations, nesfatin-1-injected rats significantly reduced cumulative food intake over a 5-h period in rats. Chronic administration of nesfatin-1 into the DVC reduced body weight gain over a 10-day period. Because glucosensing neurons in the DVC are involved in glucoprivic feeding and homeostatic control of blood glucose, we examined the effect of nesfatin-1 on the excitability of DVC glucosensing neurons. Nesfatin-1 inhibited most of the glucose-inhibitory (GI) neurons and excited most of the glucose-excitatory (GE) neurons in the DVC. Current-clamp electrophysiology recordings from DVC glucosensing neurons in slice preparation showed that bath applied nesfatin-1(10 nM) increased the firing frequency of GE neurons and inhibited the firing rate of GI-neurons. Nesfatin-1 inhibited 88.9% (16/18) of gastric distension inhibitory (GD-INH) neurons and excited 76.2% (32/42) of gastric distension excitatory (GD-EXC) neurons. Thus, nesfatin-1 may control food intake by modulating the excitability of glucosensing neurons in the DVC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Special Medicine, Medical College of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China; Department of Physiology, Medical College of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Medical College of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China.
authors.forename: Hong-Zai
authors.initials: HZ
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Medical College of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China.
authors.forename: Zheng-Yao
authors.initials: ZY
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Medical College of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology; D004435:Eating / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D007267:Injections; D008297:Male; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013270:Stomach / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D005947:Glucose