Two melanotropic peptides, melanin concentration hormone (MCH) and alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH), exert opposing actions on melanosome (melanin granule) movements within teleost pigment cells, melanocytes (melanophores). MCH stimulates melanosome aggregation to the cell center whereas alpha-MSH stimulates pigment organelle dispersion out into the dendritic processes of the me...

The effect of melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) on the release of alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) from the tilapia pituitary gland was studied in vitro. In a superfusion set up, 10 nM to 1 microM synthetic salmon MCH caused a concentration-dependent inhibition of alpha-MSH release from tilapia neurointermediate lobes (NILs). Immunoneutralization of MCH in tilapia NILs further...

Melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH), a 19-amino acid orexigenic (appetite-stimulating) hypothalamic peptide, is an important regulator of energy homeostasis. It is cleaved from its precursor prepro-MCH (ppMCH) along with several other neuropeptides whose roles are not fully defined. Because pituitary hormones such as growth hormone (GH), ACTH, and thyroid-stimulating hormone affect body weight ...

Melanin concentrating hormone (MCH) is a heptadecapeptide, Asp-Thr-Met-Arg-Cys-Met-Val-Gly-Arg-Val-Tyr-Arg-Pro-Cys-Trp-Glu-Val, synthesized in the brain and secreted from the pars nervosa of teleost fish. This hormone stimulates melanosome (melanin granule) aggregation within integumental melanocytes of fishes but, in contrast, stimulates melanosome dispersion within tetrapod (frog and lizard) ...

Recently, it was shown that the orexigenic effect of melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) is attenuated by estradiol treatment in ovariectomized (OVX) rats. This suggests that female rats may be less responsive than male rats to the behavioral effects of MCH. To investigate this hypothesis, the effects of lateral ventricular infusions of MCH on food intake, water intake, meal patterns, and runni...

BACKGROUND Melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) is an evolutionary conserved hypothalamic neuropeptide that in mammals primarily regulates appetite and energy balance. We have recently identified a novel role for MCH in intestinal inflammation by demonstrating attenuated experimental colitis in MCH deficient mice or wild type mice treated with an anti-MCH antibody. Therefore, targeting MCH has b...

The lateral hypothalamus (LH) controls energy balance. LH melanin-concentrating-hormone (MCH) and orexin/hypocretin (OH) neurons mediate energy accumulation and expenditure, respectively. MCH cells promote memory and appropriate stimulus-reward associations; their inactivation disrupts energy-optimal behaviour and causes weight loss. However, MCH cell dynamics during wakefulness are unknown, le...

Melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) is expressed primarily in the hypothalamus and has a positive impact on feeding behavior and energy balance. Although MCH is expressed in the gastrointestinal tract, its role in this system remains elusive. We demonstrate that, compared to wild type, mice genetically deficient in MCH had substantially reduced local inflammatory responses in a mouse model of e...

In male rats, estradiol (E(2)) exerts marked anorectic effects. One mechanism proposed for this effect is an E(2)-mediated down-regulation of the orexigenic neuropeptide melanin concentrating hormone (MCH). Previous anatomical work has shown that both MCH and estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) are found in quantity in the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA), a structure long associated with appetite...

Energy homeostasis is regulated by peripheral signals, such as leptin, and by several orexigenic and anorectic neuropeptides. Recently, we reported that the orexigenic neuropeptide melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) stimulates leptin production by rat adipocytes and that the MCH receptor (MCH-R1) is present on these cells. Here, we show that MCH-R1 is present on murine 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Treat...