INVESTIGADORES
DE FRANCESCO Pablo Nicolas
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Circulating or cerebrospinal fluid ghrelin regulates different neuronal circuits within the dorsal vagal complex
Autor/es:
CORNEJO M P; CABRAL A; DE FRANCESCO P N; FERNÁNDEZ G; VALDIVIA S; GARCÍA ROMERO G; REYNALDO M; PERELLÓ M
Lugar:
Huerta Grande, Córdoba
Reunión:
Congreso; XXIX CONGRESO ANUAL DE LA SOCIEDAD ARGENTINA DE INVESTIGACION EN NEUROCIENCIAS; 2014
Institución organizadora:
Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias
Resumen:
The
dorsal vagal complex (DVC) of the brainstem includes the nucleus of the
solitary tract (NTS), the area postrema (AP) and the dorsal motor nucleus of
the vagus. The DVC is an integrative center that regulates food intake and
relays autonomic neural circuits. The ghrelin receptor, also known as growth
hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR), is expressed in the DVC. Here, we
performed an anatomical characterization of the distribution of GHSR in the DVC
using a transgenic mouse in which the green fluorescent protein is controlled
by the GHSR promoter. Also, we used double staining with markers of neuronal
populations to characterize the GHSR-expressing neurons, and we used the marker
of cellular activation c-Fos to study the responsiveness of GHSR-expressing
neurons to ghrelin. We confirmed that GHSR-expressing neurons exist in all
three components of the DVC. These GHSR-expressing neurons failed to express
corticotrophin releasing factor, thyrotropin releasing hormone, neuropeptide Y,
choline acetyl-transferase, tyrosine hydroxylase or Met-enkephalin.
Interestingly, peripherally administered ghrelin mainly activates
GHSR-expressing neurons of the AP, while centrally administered ghrelin
activates GHSR-expressing neurons of both the AP and the NTS. Thus,
GHSR-expressing neurons of the AP seem to sense plasma ghrelin, while GHSR-expressing
neurons of the NTS mainly respond to cerebrospinal fluid ghrelin. The phenotype
of these GHSR-expressing neurons remains to be determined.