Regulatory peptides
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Regulatory peptides · Feb 2007
Nicotine administration effects on feeding and cocaine-amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) expression in the hypothalamus.
In previous studies food intake and meal size significantly decreased in rats two days after injecting 4 mg/kg/day nicotine tartrate. Food intake returned to normal after nine days of continued nicotine treatment, when reduced meal size is countered by an increase in meal number. Nicotine also reduced body weight after nicotine injection and body weight remained low after nine days. ⋯ In contrast, nine days of nicotine treatment reduced CART levels in the DMN as compared to saline controls. To investigate CART's role in regulating feeding, infusion of CART (55-102) into the third ventricle reduced food intake and meal size. These results are consistent with nicotine modulating feeding behavior and body weight, in part, by affecting CART transcript levels in the DMN, PVN and/or PE.