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Peptide YY(3-36) (PYY(3-36)), a peptide released postprandially by the gut, has been demonstrated to inhibit food intake. Little is known about the mechanism by which PYY(3-36) inhibits food intake, although the peptide has been shown to increase hypothalamic proopiomelanocortin (POMC) mRNA in vivo and to activate POMC neurons in an electrophysiological slice preparation. Understanding the physiology of PYY(3-36) is further complicated by the fact that some laboratories have had difficulty demonstrating inhibition of feeding by the peptide in rodents. We demonstrate here that, like cholecystokinin, PYY(3-36) dose-dependently inhibits food intake by approximately 20-45% over a 3- to 4-h period post ip administration, with no effect on 12-h food intake. This short-lived satiety effect is not seen in animals that are not thoroughly acclimated to handling and ip injection, thus potentially explaining the difficulty in reproducing the effect. Surprisingly, PYY(3-36) was equally efficacious in inducing satiety in wild-type and melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4-R)-deficient mice and thus does not appear to be dependent on MC4-R signaling. The expression of c-Fos, an indirect marker of neuronal activation, was also examined in forebrain and brainstem neurons after ip treatment with a dose of PYY(3-36) shown to induce satiety. The peptide induced no significant neuronal activation in the brainstem by this assay, and only modest activation of hypothalamic POMC neurons. Thus, unlike cholecystokinin, PYY(3-36)-induced satiety is atypical, because it does not produce detectable activation of brainstem satiety centers and is not dependent on MC4-R signaling.

Hypothalamic pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons help regulate long-term energy stores. POMC neurons are also found in the nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS), a region regulating satiety. We show here that mouse brainstem NTS POMC neurons are activated by cholecystokinin (CCK) and feeding-induced satiety and that activation of the neuronal melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4-R) is required for CCK-induced suppression of feeding; the melanocortin system thus provides a potential substrate for integration of long-term adipostatic and short-term satiety signals.

PRL-releasing peptide (PrRP) administered centrally inhibits food intake and body weight gain. To elucidate the role of PrRP, its actions were compared with those of a homeostatic regulator of food intake, the satiety factor, cholecystokinin (CCK), and a nonhomeostatic regulator, lithium chloride (LiCl), which reduces food intake due to visceral illness. Immunohistochemical analysis of the protein product of the c-fos gene, showed that central administration of PrRP activated some areas of the brain in common with both CCK and LiCl administered peripherally. However, PrRP was more similar to CCK than to LiCl in its behavioral effects. PrRP did not cause conditioned taste aversion, but instead enhanced the normal behavioral satiety sequence. Furthermore, brainstem PrRP neurons were strongly activated by CCK, but not by LiCl. These data provide evidence that pathways from the gut to the brain that are involved in signaling satiety and visceral illness may have some independent components and suggest that PrRP may mediate some of the central satiating actions of CCK.

PRL-releasing peptide (PrRP) is a novel anorexigen that reduces food intake and body weight gain in rats. In common with other anorexigens, PrRP mRNA expression is reduced during states of negative energy balance, i.e. lactation and fasting in female rats. In this study, we examined the interaction between PrRP and the adiposity signal, leptin, which interacts with a number of peptidergic systems in the brain to regulate energy homeostasis. Intracerebroventricular coadministration of 4 nmol PrRP and 1 microg leptin in rats resulted in additive reductions in nocturnal food intake and body weight gain and an increase in core body temperature compared with each peptide alone. We show also, by quantitative in situ hybridization, that PrRP mRNA is reduced in fasted male rats and obese Zucker rats, indicating that PrRP mRNA expression, like that of other anorexigens, may be regulated by leptin. Finally we show, using immunohistochemistry, that greater than 90% of PrRP neurons in all regions where PrRP is expressed contain leptin receptors. Thus, we provide evidence for PrRP neurons forming part of the leptin-sensitive brain circuitry involved in the regulation of food intake and energy homeostasis.