Noradrenergic and GABAergic systems in the medial hypothalamus influence plasma glucose and may be activated during glucoprivation. Microdialysis probes were placed into the ventromedial nucleus (VMH), lateral hypothalamus (LHA), and paraventricular nucleus (PVH) of male Sprague-Dawley rats to monitor extracellular concentrations of norepinephrine (NE) and GABA. During systemic hypoglycemia, in...

Decreased ventromedial hypothalamic (VMH) serotonergic activity occurs in genetic and diet-induced animal models of obesity. We previously found that this activity was lower in adult and in 12-day-old Zucker fa/fa vs. Fa/Fa pups, the fa/fa animals being identified by their greater adiposity. In the present study, we evaluated fa/fa rats (Brown Norway-Zucker hybrids) at ages 2, 4, 7, and 12 days...

Hypothalamic effects on gluconeogenesis and glycosis in rat liver were studied byelectrical stimulations of the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (LH) without disturbing the animal's behavior. Stimulation of VMH caused a increase in the activity of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK), a key gluconeogenic enzyme, and marked suppression of pyruvate kinase (PK), a key glycolytic enzyme, of ...

Objectives: The aims of this study were to in vitro evaluate the degree of conversion and the microhardness properties of five bulk fill resin composites; in addition, the performance of two curing lamps, used for composites polymerization, was also analyzed. Materials and Methods: The following five resin-based bulk fill composites were tested: SureFil SDR®, Fill Up!™, Filtek™, SonicFill™, and...

The ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) was thought to be essential for coping with threat, although its circuit mechanism remains unclear. To investigate this, we optogenetically activated steroidogenic factor 1 (SF1)-expressing neurons in the dorsomedial and central parts of the VMH (VMHdm/c), and observed a range of context-dependent somatomotor and autonomic responses resembling animals' natura...

Leptin, an adipocyte-derived hormone, acts directly on the brain to control food intake and energy expenditure. An important question is the identity of first-order neurons initiating leptin's anti-obesity effects. A widely held view is that most, if not all, of leptin's effects are mediated by neurons located in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus. However, leptin receptors (LEPRs) are exp...

The obesity epidemic is a significant global health issue. Improved understanding of the mechanisms that regulate appetite and body weight will provide the rationale for the design of anti-obesity therapies. Thyroid hormones play a key role in metabolic homeostasis through their interaction with thyroid hormone receptors (TRs), which function as ligand-inducible transcription factors. The TR-be...

Growing knowledge of the control of glucose metabolism permits the testing of alternative treatments to insulin to maintain euglycemia. Diminishing glucagon action on the liver (1) and increasing leptin (2) are prime examples of promising peptide hormone treatments that could be useful in glucose regulation. A report from Morton and colleagues (3) in this issue provides data that a systems biol...

Background and Objective: Morphine can cause harmful effects in the ovaries. The silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) used in health care because of antimicrobial properties, can diffuse into the brain blood barrier. This study investigated the protective effect of Ag-NPs on the induction of polycystic ovary (PCO) due to injection of morphine intra-ventromedial hypothalamus (intra-VMH) of rat compared...