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Effects of a high-fat diet and strain on hypothalamic gene expression in rats
Andrea O Schaffhauser1, Abram M Madiehe, Hugh D Braymer
1Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70808, USA.
Objective:
This study was designed to investigate whether dietary fat and genetic background might differentially alter the expression of hypothalamic genes involved in food intake.
Research Methods And Procedures:
Three-month-old Osborne-Mendel (OM) and S5B/Pl rats were fed either a high-fat or a low-fat diet for 14 days. mRNA for neuropeptide Y (NPY), corticotrophin-releasing hormone, NPY Y-1 receptor and Y-5 receptor, and serotonin 2c (5-HT2c) receptors were measured using Northern blotting or ribonuclease protection assays.
Results:
OM rats showed an increased expression of NPY and corticotrophin-releasing hormone compared with S5B/Pl rats. The expression of NPY-Y1 and -Y5 receptor mRNA was significantly higher in the hypothalamus of OM rats compared with S5B/Pl rats. The expression of 5HT-2c receptor mRNA was significantly reduced in both strains of rats eating a high-fat diet when compared with the animals eating the low-fat diet.
Discussion:
These data suggest that over activity of the NPY system may contribute to the development of obesity in OM rats and that expression of the 5HT-2c receptor gene may be modulated by dietary fat.