Leptin Receptor mRNA Identifies a Subpopulation of Neuropeptide Y Neurons Activated by Fasting in Rat Hypothalamus

摘要

The decline of leptin (Ob protein) concentrations due- ing fasting is implicated as a signal for increasing the expression of the orexigenic peptide neuropeptide Y (NPY) in the hypothalamus. To test the hypothesis that the effects of food intake on arcuate nucleus NPY acti- vation are mediated by leptin, we performed simulta- neous triple in situ hybridization colocalization studies to determine whether the subset of Npy neurons that are activated by fasting preferentially expresses the long form of the leptin receptor (Ob-Rb).