Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P01189 (beta-endorphin)
 21,003 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Rats normally eat about 85% of their food at night. Lactation increases food intake 3- to 4-fold, but the diurnal pattern of food intake persists. The mechanisms responsible for the diurnal and lactation-induced changes in food intake are still unresolved, hence we have further investigated the possible roles of serum leptin and hypothalamic expression of neuropeptide Y (NPY), agouti-related peptide (AgRP) and pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) in rats. Suppressor of cytokine signalling-3 (SOCS-3) acts as a feedback inhibitor of leptin signalling in the hypothalamus, hence changes in expression of SOCS-3 were also investigated. Changes in expression of NPY, AgRP or POMC alone could not account for the diurnal changes in intake and their alteration by lactation. However, there were increased AgRP mRNA:POMC mRNA ratios at night and also during lactation, which were very similar to estimated changes in food intake. Such changes in expression may result in dominance of the orexigenic AgRP peptide over the appetite-suppressing POMC-derived peptides, and so could contribute to the hyperphagia in these states. Diurnal and lactation-related changes in the AgRP mRNA:POMC mRNA ratio and food intake are not due to changes in leptin alone. However, hypoleptinaemia, possibly through increased expression of NPY, may contribute to the hyperphagia of lactation. In the dark, expression of SOCS-3 was decreased in non-lactating rats; lactation decreased SOCS-3 expression in both light and dark phases. However, such changes are likely to enhance the ability of leptin-responsive neurones to transmit the leptin signal, and so are unlikely to contribute to either the nocturnal increase in appetite or the hyperphagia of lactation.
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PMID:Diurnal changes in hypothalamic neuropeptide and SOCS-3 expression: effects of lactation and relationship with serum leptin and food intake. 1552 85

Diurnal changes in plasma corticosterone concentrations of rats are supposed to be controlled by low amplitude changes in plasma adrenocorticotropin (ACTH) that run in phase with marked changes in adrenal sensitivity to ACTH (1, 2). These sensitivity changes are probably under neuronal control (3), but the mechanisms remain to be elucidated. By the use of a highly specific monoclonal antibody to rat corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) (4), we studied the role of endogenous CR- in these processes. Blockade of endogenous CRF prevented the evening rise in plasma ACTH and reduced corticosterone levels to less than 10%. The CRF antibody did not affect morning ACTH concentrations but nevertheless reduced morning corticosterone levels by 40% to 60%. In dexamethasone-treated rats, immunoneutralization of endogenous CRF caused a similar reduction in the plasma corticosterone response to exogenous ACTH. We conclude that endogenous CRF plays a physiological role in controlling the adrenal sensitivity to ACTH.
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PMID:Non-adrenocorticotropin mediated effects of endogenous corticotropin-releasing factor on the adrenocortical activity in the rat. 1921 10


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