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Updated: Apr 17, 2026
Hyponeophagia: A Measure of Anxiety in the Mouse
Published on: May 17, 2011
Lack of Hypophagia in CB1 Null Mice is Associated to Decreased Hypothalamic POMC and CART Expression
Ricardo Lage1, Claudia Parisi2, Patricia Seoane-Collazo2
1Department of Physiology, CIMUS, University of Santiago de Compostela-Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria, Santiago de Compostela, 15782, Spain (Drs Lage, Parisi, Seoane-Collazo, Fernø, Nogueiras, Diéguez, and López); CIBER Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición (CIBERobn), 15706, Spain (Drs Lage, Seoane-Collazo, Seoane, Nogueiras, Diéguez, and López); Center of Animal Biotechnology and Gene Therapy and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine, Universitat Autònoma Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193, Spain (Drs Lage and Bosch); Endocrinology Unit and Center for Applied Biomedical Research, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna 40138, Italy (Drs Parisi, Mazza, and Quarta); Department of Clinical Science, K. G. Jebsen Center for Diabetes Research, University of Bergen, Bergen, N-5020, Norway (Dr Fernø); Grupo Fisiopatología Endocrina, Complexo Hospitalario Universitario de Santiago (CHUS/SERGAS), Santiago de Compostela, 15706, Spain (Dr Seoane). ricardo.lage@usc.es m.lopez@usc.es.
Background:
Cumulative data indicate that the endocannabinoid system plays a major role in feeding behavior and energy balance. Genetic silencing of cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) reduces body weight gain, independently of food intake.
Methods:
In this work, we investigated whether the hypothalamic neuropeptide expression pattern supports the absence of the anorexigenic response observed under constitutive CB1 ablation, by using neuronal CB1 conditional null mice (CamK-CB1-KO) and whole body CB1 null mice (CB1-KO).
Results:
Our data showed that both CB1 null models display a marked decrease in proopiomelanocortin (POMC) and cocaine-amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) expression in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus (ARC).
Conclusions:
This evidence suggests that a lack of hypophagia is associated with the suppression of ARC anorexigenic neuropeptides and that behavioral changes in food intake (or lack thereof) after constitutive CB1 ablation are likely mediated by impaired melanocortin and CART signaling in the hypothalamus.
