Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 27, 2026

Progressive-ratio Responding for Palatable High-fat and High-sugar Food in Mice
Published on: May 3, 2012
Leptin inhibits food intake without affecting brain NOx levels in food-deprived mice
Yumi Sugimoto1, Hiroshi Hirose, Tatsuo Yagura
1Department of Pharmacology, Kobe Pharmaceutical University, 4-19-1 Motoyamakita-machi, Higashinada-ku, Kobe 658-8558, Japan. yumisugi@kobepharma-u.ac.jp
Abstract:
Effects of leptin on food intake and nitric oxide (NO) metabolites (nitrite and nitrate, NOx) levels of brain were investigated in mice. Leptin dose-dependently decreased milk intake in food-deprived mice. Administration of leptin at a dose of 1 mg/kg, which induces an apparent hypophagia, did not affect NOx levels in the hypothalamus and frontal cortex. These results suggest that leptin reduces food intake in food-deprived mice without altering NO production in the hypothalamus, which plays an important role in regulation of feeding.

