Anorexigenic melanocortins decrease food intake by activating MC3/MC4 receptors (MC3/4R); the prevailing view is that the orexigenic neuropeptide agouti-related peptide (AgRP) exerts the opposite action by acting as an antagonist at MC3/MC4 receptors. A total of 370 hypothalamic ventromedial nucleus (VMH) glutamatergic neurons was studied using whole-cell recording in hypothalamic slices from a...

As part of their natural lives, animals can undergo periods of voluntarily reduced food intake and body weight (i.e. animal anorexias) that are beneficial for survival or breeding, such as during territorial behaviour, hibernation, migration and incubation of eggs. For incubation, a change in the defended level of body weight or 'sliding set point' appears to be involved, although the neural me...

Although excess hypothalamic agouti-related peptide (AGRP), an endogenous antagonist of the melanocortin 3/4 receptor, causes hyperphagia and obesity, its role in regulating cardiovascular function is unclear. This study examined control of mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), and metabolism during chronic central administration of AGRP in rats. A cannula was placed in the lateral ven...