Metabolic and Endocrine Control of Behavior

主要研究者：Schneider，J. IBN-9723938许多人吃得过多，体重增加太多，而其他人吃得太少，遇到严重的问题，如营养不良和不孕不育。 瘦素是一种新发现的蛋白质，由身体脂肪细胞自然产生和分泌，被认为在饮食，体重和生育方面发挥作用。 该提案旨在了解瘦素如何影响饮食，体重和生殖。 我们将研究叙利亚仓鼠，因为与其他动物不同，它们有一个可靠的4天排卵（发情）周期，对瘦素治疗非常敏感，短期禁食和增加运动。 我们将寻找瘦素在体内何处以及通过何种机制影响体重、进食和发情周期的线索。 例如，为了找到瘦素的作用，我们将比较瘦素注射到体内的效果和瘦素治疗仅限于大脑的一个小区域时的效果。 我们将检查的一些影响将是体重，食物摄入量和发情周期的长度。 我们还将用瘦素治疗仓鼠，并确定大脑的哪些部分变得活跃。 此外，我们将通过检查瘦素对仓鼠大脑特定区域的小病变的影响来确定大脑的特定区域是否对瘦素的作用至关重要。 了解瘦素的作用机制和作用部位可能会为体重、饮食和生育能力如何调节以及如何治疗肥胖或神经性厌食症提供重要线索。 这项工作可能对理解涉及新陈代谢对神经系统影响的各种行为问题具有更普遍的重要性。

PI: Schneider, J. IBN-9723938 Many people overeat and gain too much weight, while other people eat too little and experience serious problems such as malnutrition and infertility. Leptin is a newly discovered protein that is naturally made and secreted by body fat cells, and is thought to play a role in the regulation of eating, body weight and fertility. This proposal is designed to understand how leptin influences eating, body weight and reproduction. We will study Syrian hamsters because, unlike other animals, they have a reliable, 4-day ovulatory (estrous) cycle that is very sensitive to leptin treatment, a short period of fasting, and increased exercise. We will look for clues as to where in the body and by what mechanism leptin affects body weight, eating and estrous cycles. For example, in order to find where leptin acts, we will compare the effects of leptin injected into the body to effects when leptin treatment is restricted to a small area of the brain. Some of the effects we will examine will be body weight, food intake and length of the estrous cycle. We will also treat hamsters with leptin and determine which parts of the brain become active. In addition, we will determine whether particular parts of the brain are critical for leptin's effects by examining the effects of leptin in hamsters with small lesions of these exact brain areas. Knowledge of leptin's mechanism and site of action may provide important clues to how body weight, eating and fertility are regulated as well as how to treat obesity or anorexia nervosa. This work may have more general importance for understanding a variety of behavioral problems that involve effects of metabolism on the nervous system.