BACKGROUND Ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) plays a major role in food intake, obesity and energy homeostasis. There is a report of gender difference in energy balance with increased vulnerability of males to cardiac disease. PURPOSE Body metabolism is greatly influenced by the diet we eat and some of the blood parameters like plasma glucose, insulin, lipid profile and thyroid profile depict a...

Ovarian hormones act throughout the brain and body to influence a range of functions and behaviors. Estrogens and progesterone are neuroprotective and have important health implications. However, our understanding of the mechanisms underlying many of their actions is incomplete. The goal of this thesis is to elucidate details of ovarian hormone-induced neural plasticity, specifically as it rela...

The transcription factor FOXO1 plays a central role in metabolic homeostasis by regulating leptin and insulin activity in many cell types, including neurons. However, the neurons mediating these effects and the identity of the molecular targets through which FOXO1 regulates metabolism remain to be defined. Here, we show that the ventral medial nucleus of the hypothalamus (VMH) is a key site of ...

The objective of this study was to determine the potential role of astrocyte-derived ketone bodies in regulating the early changes in caloric intake of diet induced-obese (DIO) versus diet-resistant (DR) rats fed a 31.5% fat high-energy (HE) diet. After 3 days on chow or HE diet, DR and DIO rats were assessed for their ventromedial hypothalamic (VMH) ketone bodies levels and neuronal ventromedi...

Female, but not male, whiptail lizards will respond to exogenous estrogen with an increase in estrogen receptor alpha (ER alpha) mRNA in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH). The current study tested whether differences in long-term testosterone exposure may be responsible for this sex difference. In the first experiment, female whiptails were gonadectomized and implanted for 6 weeks with either...

Takahashi, Akira, Eiko Kishi, Hirohisa Ishimaru, Yasushi Ikarashi, and Yuji Maruyama. Stimulation of rat hypothalamus by microdialysis with K1: increase of ACh release elevates plasma glucose. Am. J. Physiol. 275 (Regulatory Integrative Comp. Physiol. 44): R1647–R1653, 1998.— The effects of stimulation of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) or lateral hypothalamus (LH) with potassium chloride t...

Treatment with testosterone (T) or estradiol (E2) facilitates intraspecific aggressive behavior in adult rodents. Brain aromatization of T to E2 appears to be involved in facilitation of fighting behavior. In the present study we measure the in vitro brain aromatase activity (AA) in the preoptic area (POA), amygdaloid nuclei (Am), ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH), and parietal cortex (CTX) from ...

It has been shown that GABAA receptor blockade in the dorsomedial and ventromedial hypothalamic nuclei (DMH and VMH, respectively) induces elaborated defensive behavioural responses accompanied by antinociception, which has been utilized as an experimental model of panic attack. Furthermore, the prelimbic (PL) division of the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) has been related to emotional reactio...

Urocortin (UCN), a member of the corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) family, inhibits food intake when it is injected intracerebroventricularly in rats. To explore the site of action of UCN in feeding behavior, we examined the effects of injection of UCN into various hypothalamic nuclei on food and water intake in 24-h fasted rats. Injection of UCN into the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (V...

BACKGROUND Type-1 cannabinoid receptors (CB(1)R) are enriched in the hypothalamus, particularly in the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH) that participates in homeostatic and behavioral functions including food intake. Although CB(1)R activation modulates excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission in the brain, CB(1)R contribution to the molecular architecture of the excitatory and in...