Project description:Anorexia is frequently observed during cancer and associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Our previous work has shown the presence of transcription factors in the ventral striatum of anorectic tumor-bearing rats. The aim of the present study was, therefore, to assess expression of neuropeptides, neurotransmitter-synthesizing enzymes and receptors in this structure. Morris hepatoma 7777 cells injected subcutaneously in Buffalo rats provoked a 15% reduction in food intake and 10% lower body weight when the tumor represented 1-2% of body mass. Mircorarrays and real-time PCR revealed increased ventral striatal prostaglandin D synthase expression in food-restricted animals compared to anorectic tumor-bearing rats. These findings indicate that reduced ventral striatal prostaglandin D synthesis underlies cancer-associated anorexia.
Project description:Anorexia is frequently observed during cancer and associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Our previous work has shown the presence of transcription factors in the hypothalamus of anorectic tumor-bearing rats. The aim of the present study was, therefore, to assess expression of neuropeptides, neurotransmitter-synthesizing enzymes and receptors in this structure. Morris hepatoma 7777 cells injected subcutaneously in Buffalo rats provoked a 15% reduction in food intake and 10% lower body weight when the tumor represented 1-2% of body mass. Real-time PCR showed that tumor-bearing rats did not display the increase in hypothalamic agouti-related peptide mRNA observed in food-restricted weight-matched animals. These findings indicate that blunted hypothalamic AgRp mRNA expression underlies cancer-associated anorexia.
Project description:We used microarrays to determine the effect of prenatal nicotine exposure on gene expression profiles in the striatum of adolescent rats. We found a number of immediate early genes to be differentially expressed due to food-restriction. We compared control (n=8), nicotine exposed (n=7) and a group of animals matched to the food intake of nicotine exposed animals (n=10) to identify gene expression changes associated with prenatal nicotine exposure
Project description:Nutritional status influences feeding behaviors, food preferences and taste sensations. For example, zinc-deficient rats have been reported to show reduced and cyclic food intake patterns with increased preferences for NaCl. Although some impairments of the central nervous and endocrine systems have been speculated to be involved in these phenomena, the effects of short-term zinc deficiency on the brain have not been well examined to date. In this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis of the gene expression patterns in the rat diencephalon, which is a portion of the brain that includes the hypothalamus and thalamus, after short-term zinc deficiency and also during zinc recovery. The rats showed reduced and cyclic food intake patterns with increased salt preferences after a 10-day dietary zinc deficiency. A comparative analysis of their diencephalons using cDNA microarrays revealed that approximately 1% of the genes expressed in the diencephalons showed significantly altered expression levels. On the other hand, a 6-day zinc supplementation following the deprivation allowed for the recovery to initial food intake behaviors and salt preferences. The expression levels of most of the genes that had been altered by exposure to zinc deficient conditions were also recovered. These results show that feeding behaviors, taste preferences and gene expression patterns in the diencephalon respond quickly to changing zinc levels. This suggests that the gene expression changes observed in the diencephalon and the accompanying functional changes may be related to the development of deviations in feeding behaviors and increased preferences for NaCl in zinc-deficient rats.
Project description:Background: Anorexia is a common symptom among cancer patients and contributes to malnutrition and strongly impinges on quality of life. Cancer-induced anorexia is thought to be caused by an inability of food intake-regulating systems in the hypothalamus to respond adequately to negative energy balance during tumour growth. Here, we show that this impaired response of food-intake control is likely to be mediated by altered serotonin signalling and by failure in post-transcriptional neuropeptide Y (NPY) regulation. Methods: Two tumour cachectic mouse models with different food intake behaviours were used: a C26-colon adenocarcinoma model with increased food intake and a Lewis lung carcinoma model with decreased food intake. This contrast in food intake behaviour between tumour-bearing (TB) mice in response to growth of the two different tumours was used to distinguish between processes involved in cachexia and mechanisms that might be important in food intake regulation. The hypothalamus was used for transcriptomics (affymetrix chips). Results: In both models, hypothalamic expression of orexigenic NPY was significantly higher compared with controls, suggesting that this change does not directly reflect food intake status but might be linked to negative energy balance in cachexia. Expression of genes involved in serotonin signalling showed to be different between C26-TB mice and Lewis lung carcinoma-TB mice and was inversely associated with food intake. In vitro, using hypothalamic cell lines, serotonin repressed neuronal hypothalamic NPY secretion while not affecting messenger NPY expression, suggesting that serotonin signalling can interfere with NPY synthesis, transport, or secretion. Conclusions: Altered serotonin signalling is associated with changes in food intake behaviour in cachectic TB mice. Serotonins' inhibitory effect on food intake under cancer cachectic conditions is probably via affecting the NPY system. Therefore, serotonin regulation might be a therapeutic target to prevent the development of cancer-induced eating disorders.
Project description:Background: Anorexia is a common symptom among cancer patients and contributes to malnutrition and strongly impinges on quality of life. Cancer-induced anorexia is thought to be caused by an inability of food intake-regulating systems in the hypothalamus to respond adequately to negative energy balance during tumour growth. Here, we show that this impaired response of food-intake control is likely to be mediated by altered serotonin signalling and by failure in post-transcriptional neuropeptide Y (NPY) regulation. Methods: Two tumour cachectic mouse models with different food intake behaviours were used: a C26-colon adenocarcinoma model with increased food intake and a Lewis lung carcinoma model with decreased food intake. This contrast in food intake behaviour between tumour-bearing (TB) mice in response to growth of the two different tumours was used to distinguish between processes involved in cachexia and mechanisms that might be important in food intake regulation. The hypothalamus was used for transcriptomics (affymetrix chips). Results: In both models, hypothalamic expression of orexigenic NPY was significantly higher compared with controls, suggesting that this change does not directly reflect food intake status but might be linked to negative energy balance in cachexia. Expression of genes involved in serotonin signalling showed to be different between C26-TB mice and Lewis lung carcinoma-TB mice and was inversely associated with food intake. In vitro, using hypothalamic cell lines, serotonin repressed neuronal hypothalamic NPY secretion while not affecting messenger NPY expression, suggesting that serotonin signalling can interfere with NPY synthesis, transport, or secretion. Conclusions: Altered serotonin signalling is associated with changes in food intake behaviour in cachectic TB mice. Serotonins' inhibitory effect on food intake under cancer cachectic conditions is probably via affecting the NPY system. Therefore, serotonin regulation might be a therapeutic target to prevent the development of cancer-induced eating disorders.
Project description:The combined effects of aging and a dietary intervention of reduced energy intake, caloric restriction, were examined by conducting a bulk transcriptomic analysis of mouse whole tibia bone samples. Tissue samples were collected from mice at two different age groups, comparing old and young animals, with caloric restriction in comparison to full food access.
Project description:Dietary restriction (DR), reduced food intake while avoiding malnutrition, profoundly extends lifespan in most model and non-model organisms. Both chronic (i.e. life-long) and acute (i.e. late-onset) DR have been shown to improve cognitive performance in aged mice compared to animals with an unrestricted access to food (ad libitium feeding; AL). Yet so far, quantitative analyses of the molecular dynamics in the brain of DR fed animals have been limited. Here we performed single-nuclei sequencing (Nuc-seq) of whole hippocampus isolated from young (5 months) and old (24 months) AL fed animals, as well as old chronic DR (DR started at 3 months) and acute DR (aDR) mice.