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Hypothalamic α 2 ‐Noradrenergic Receptor System Relation to Dietary, Genetic, and Hormonally Induced Obesity
Author(s) -
JHANWARUNIYAL M.,
GRINKER J. A.,
FINKELSTEIN J. A.,
BLOCK W.,
LEIBOWITZ S. F.
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1989.tb53313.x
Subject(s) - finkelstein's test , library science , gerontology , medicine , computer science , physical therapy
Variables relating to diet, hormones, and genetic background are major factors in the development of obesity. Moreover, hypothalamic neurotransmitter systems are known to influence food intake, appetite, metabolism, and body weight. In particular, the catecholamine, norepinephrine (NE), has been shown in animals to potentiate food intake in satiated subjects, enhance appetite specifically for carbohydrate, affect circulating hormones and nutrients, and reduce energy expenditure. This neurotransmitter, which produces hyperphagia and increased body weight gain with chronic administration, is found to act via a,-noradTenergic receptors specifically in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Circulating substances, such as the glucocorticoid hormone corticosterone (CORT) and glucose, have been shown to influence these PVN a1 receptors, as well as eating Moreover, evidence suggests that this a,receptor system becomes most active and exerts its maximum physiological effects precisely at the start of active cycle, when circulating CORT levels normally peak and when eating behavior, and in particular carbohydrate preference, is strongest. 1-3 This report reviews the results of three studies that have used radioligand receptor binding techniques to examine the a,-noradrenergic receptors in discrete hypothalamic sites, including the PVN, of rats that are: (i) maintained for six weeks on a high-fat diet (Purina lab chow mixed with 30% wt/wt Crisco) versus lab chow; (ii) lean (FA/-) versus obese (fa/fa) genetically controlled animals of the Zucker strain; and (iii) adrenalectomized rats treated with either cholesterol or CORT or sham-operated rats treated with cholesterol.