IMBICE   05372
INSTITUTO MULTIDISCIPLINARIO DE BIOLOGIA CELULAR
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
P231.-CHARACTERIZATION OF GHRELIN-RESPONSIVE NEURONS OF THE LATERAL HYPOTHALAMIC AREA
Autor/es:
NICOLAS DE FRANCESCO; FRANCO BARRILE; MIRTA REYNALDO; MARIA PAULA CORNEJO; MARIO PERELLO
Lugar:
Villa Carlos Paz, Córdoba, Argentina
Reunión:
Congreso; XXXIV Reunión Anual SAN 2019; 2019
Institución organizadora:
Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias
Resumen:
Lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) is a brain region involved in the control of feeding, energy balance and motivated behavior, among other functions. LHA neurons express high levels of the ghrelin receptor (or, growth hormone secretagogue receptor, GHSR). Ghrelin is a stomach-derived peptide that regulates diverse functions exclusively via GHSR. In this study, we characterized GHSR neurons of the LHA. First, we mapped the distribution of GHSR neurons of the LHA using mice in which the enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) is expressed under the control of the GHSR promoter (GHSR-eGFP mice). Then, we assessed the ability of GHSR neurons of the LHA to sense central or peripheral ghrelin by using a fluorescent ghrelin analog, and found that only centrally administered ghrelin reaches LHA cells. Also, we found that GHSR neurons of the LHA increase the level of the marker of neuronal activation c-Fos in response to centrally injected ghrelin and fail to increase c-Fos in response to systemically injected ghrelin. We also found that GHSR neurons of the LHA do not express melanin concentrating hormone, orexin or the marker of GABA cells Gad65. Moreover, intra-LHA ghrelin administration increases food intake and locomotor activity. Thus, current data suggest that GHSR neurons of the LHA, whose phenotype remains unknown, could regulate some behavioral functions independently of plasma ghrelin levels.