Removal of adrenal steroids by adrenalectomy (ADX) reduces food intake and body weight in rodents and prevents excessive weight gain in many genetic and dietary models of obesity. Thus, glucocorticoids appear to play a key role to promote positive energy balance in normal and pathological conditions. By comparison, central nervous system melanocortin signaling provides critical inhibitory tone ...

This article contains structure and pharmacological characteristics of melanocortin receptors (MCRs) related to research published in "Characterization of melanocortin receptors from stingray Dasyatis akajei, a cartilaginous fish" (Takahashi et al., 2016) [1]. The amino acid sequences of the stingray, D. akajei, MC1R, MC2R, MC3R, MC4R, and MC5R were aligned with the corresponding melanocortin r...

Polymorphisms in reproductive strategies are among the most extreme and complex in nature. A prominent example is male body size and the correlated reproductive strategies in some species of platyfish and swordtails of the genus Xiphophorus. This polymorphism is controlled by a single Mendelian locus (P) that determines the onset of sexual maturity of males. Because males cease growth after rea...