title: Is there a role for ghrelin in central dopaminergic systems? Focus on nigrostriatal and mesocorticolimbic pathways.
abstract: The gastro-intestinal peptide ghrelin has been assigned many functions. These include appetite regulation, energy metabolism, glucose homeostasis, intestinal motility, anxiety, memory or neuroprotection. In the last decade, this pleiotropic peptide has been proposed as a therapeutic agent in gastroparesis for diabetes and in cachexia for cancer. Ghrelin and its receptor, which is expressed throughout the brain, play an important role in motivation and reward. Ghrelin finely modulates the mesencephalic dopaminergic signaling and is thus currently studied in pathological conditions including dopamine-related disorders. Dopamine regulates motivated behaviors, modulating reward processes, emotions and motor functions to enable the survival of individuals and species. Numerous dopamine-related disorders including Parkinson's disease or eating disorders like anorexia nervosa involve altered ghrelin levels. However, despite the growing interest for ghrelin in these pathological conditions, global integrative studies investigating its role in brain dopaminergic structures are still lacking. In this review, we discuss the role of ghrelin on dopaminergic neurons and its relevance in the search for new therapeutics for Parkinson's disease- and anorexia nervosa-related dopamine deficits.
authors.affiliation: Univ. Lille, Inserm, CHU Lille, UMR-S 1172 - JPArc - Centre de Recherche Jean-Pierre AUBERT Neurosciences et Cancer, F-59000 Lille, France. Electronic address: alicia.stievenard@inserm.fr.
authors.forename: Alicia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stievenard
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia. Electronic address: mathieu.mequinion@monash.edu.
authors.forename: Mathieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Méquinion
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiology, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia. Electronic address: zane.andrews@monash.edu.
authors.forename: Zane B
authors.initials: ZB
authors.lastname: Andrews
authors.affiliation: Univ. Lille, Inserm, CHU Lille, UMR-S 1172 - JPArc - Centre de Recherche Jean-Pierre AUBERT Neurosciences et Cancer, F-59000 Lille, France. Electronic address: a-destee@chru-lille.fr.
authors.forename: Alain
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Destée
authors.affiliation: Univ. Lille, Inserm, CHU Lille, UMR-S 1172 - JPArc - Centre de Recherche Jean-Pierre AUBERT Neurosciences et Cancer, F-59000 Lille, France. Electronic address: marie-christine.chartier-harlin@inserm.fr.
authors.forename: Marie-Christine
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Chartier-Harlin
authors.affiliation: Univ. Lille, Inserm, CHU Lille, UMR-S 1172 - JPArc - Centre de Recherche Jean-Pierre AUBERT Neurosciences et Cancer, F-59000 Lille, France. Electronic address: odile.viltart@inserm.fr.
authors.forename: Odile
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Viltart
authors.affiliation: Univ. Lille, Inserm, CHU Lille, UMR-S 1172 - JPArc - Centre de Recherche Jean-Pierre AUBERT Neurosciences et Cancer, F-59000 Lille, France. Electronic address: christel.vanbesien@inserm.fr.
authors.forename: Christel C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Vanbesien-Mailliot
mesh_terms: D002100:Cachexia; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D054439:Ghrelin / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D012201:Reward
chemical_list: D054439:Ghrelin; D004298:Dopamine
keywords: Anorexia nervosa; Dopamine; Ghrelin; Goal-directed action; Motivation; Parkinson’s disease