Acute and chronic administration of melanin-concentrating hormone enhances food intake and body weight in Wistar and Sprague–Dawley rats

Oct 2, 2002International journal of obesity and related metabolic disorders : journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity

Short- and long-term melanin-concentrating hormone increases eating and body weight in two types of rats

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Abstract

Chronic infusion of melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) for 12 days increased food intake in rats.

Both acute and chronic administration of MCH stimulated feeding in Wistar and Sprague-Dawley rats.
Chronic MCH infusion activated mRNA synthesis of neuropeptide Y (NPY) only in Sprague-Dawley rats.
The increase in food intake due to MCH in Sprague-Dawley rats did not result solely from NPY release.
MCH is associated with controlling both short- and long-term food intake in satiated rats.
The MCH pathway may represent a potential target for addressing food intake and obesity.

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AIM: Although melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) is believed to be an important regulator of feeding behavior, both its acute and chronic effects on food intake as well as its interaction with other brain peptides involved in the control of appetite remain unclear. Therefore, the acute effects of MCH on food intake and the chronic effect of MCH on food intake and the gene expression of various hypothalamic peptides involved in the control of appetite were studied in rats.

METHODS AND RESULTS: Either the acute or the continuous intraventricular infusion of MCH for 12 days stimulated feeding in both Wistar or Sprague-Dawley rats. Removal of the hypothalamus at the end of the chronic infusion studies allowed measurement of the expression of mRNAs encoding for MCH, neuropeptide Y (NPY), orexin, agouti gene-related peptide, cocaine and amphetamine-related transcript and neurotensin-neuropeptides involved in the control of appetite. Chronic intraventricular infusion of MCH activated only NPY mRNA synthesis in Sprague-Dawley rats. The increase in food intake in response to MCH in Sprague-Dawley rats did not appear to be due to the release of NPY since combination studies demonstrated consistently additive effects of the two peptides on food intake at maximum or near maximum doses.

CONCLUSIONS: These results strongly suggest that MCH is an orexigenic peptide involved in the control of both short- and long term food intake in satiated rats and further indicate that the MCH pathway is a possible target for the control of food intake and obesity.

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Acute and chronic administration of melanin-concentrating hormone enhances food intake and body weight in Wistar and Sprague–Dawley rats

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