Location and effect of obesity on putative anorectic binding sites in the rat brain

Anorectic drugs such as mazindol bind to a class of low-affinity, sodium-sensitive sites in the brain which are affected by ambient glucose concentrations and a predisposition to develop diet-induced obesity (DIO). This study used quantitative autoradiography of 10 nM 3H-mazindol binding to identify the cellular location of these putative anorectic binding sites in the brain and to assess the way in which the development of DIO affected their binding. We previously showed that chow-fed, obesity-prone rats have widespread increases in brain 3H-mazindol binding to these low-affinity sites as compared with diet-resistant (DR) rats. Here, low-affinity 3H-mazindol binding was assessed in the brains of eight rats which developed DIO vs. eight which were DR after three months on a high-energy diet. DIO rats gained 89% more weight and had 117% higher plasma insulin levels but no difference in plasma glucose levels compared with DR rats. Along with these differences, low-affinity 3H-mazindol binding in DIO rats was identical to that in DR rats in all of the 23 brain areas assessed. This suggested that this binding was downregulated by the development of obesity in DIO rats. In other chow-fed rats, stereotaxic injections of 5,7-dihydroxytryptamine and 6-hydroxydopamine (6OHDA) to ablate serotonin and catecholamine nerve terminals in the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (VMN) had no effect on 3H-mazindol binding. However, ibotenic acid injected into the VMN, substantia nigra, pars reticulata, and pars compacta destroyed intrinsic neurons and/or their local processes and decreased low-affinity 3H-mazindol binding by 13%-22%. Destruction of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra, pars compacta, and noradrenergic neurons in the locus ceruleus with 6OHDA also reduced 3H-mazindol binding in those areas by 9% and 12%, respectively. This suggested that up to 22% of putative anorectic binding sites may be located on the cell bodies of dopamine, norepinephrine, and other neurons, but not on serotonin or catecholamine nerve terminals in the brain. Binding to these sites may be downregulated by the development of DIO, possibly as a result of the concomitant hyperinsulinemia.