A role for ghrelin in the central regulation of feeding

Masamitsu Nakazato (), Noboru Murakami, Yukari Date, Masayasu Kojima, Hisayuki Matsuo, Kenji Kangawa and Shigeru Matsukura
Additional contact information
Masamitsu Nakazato: Kiyotake
Noboru Murakami: Department of Veterinary Physiology Miyazaki University
Yukari Date: Kiyotake
Masayasu Kojima: National Cardiovascular Center Research Institute
Hisayuki Matsuo: National Cardiovascular Center Research Institute
Kenji Kangawa: National Cardiovascular Center Research Institute
Shigeru Matsukura: Kiyotake

Nature, 2001, vol. 409, issue 6817, 194-198

Abstract: Abstract Ghrelin is an acylated peptide that stimulates the release of growth hormone from the pituitary1. Ghrelin-producing neurons are located in the hypothalamus, whereas ghrelin receptors are expressed in various regions of the brain2,3,4, which is indicative of central—and as yet undefined—physiological functions. Here we show that ghrelin is involved in the hypothalamic regulation of energy homeostasis. Intracerebroventricular injections of ghrelin strongly stimulated feeding in rats and increased body weight gain. Ghrelin also increased feeding in rats that are genetically deficient in growth hormone. Anti-ghrelin immunoglobulin G robustly suppressed feeding. After intracerebroventricular ghrelin administration, Fos protein, a marker of neuronal activation5, was found in regions of primary importance in the regulation of feeding, including neuropeptide Y6 (NPY) neurons and agouti-related protein7 (AGRP) neurons. Antibodies and antagonists of NPY and AGRP abolished ghrelin-induced feeding. Ghrelin augmented NPY gene expression and blocked leptin-induced8 feeding reduction, implying that there is a competitive interaction between ghrelin and leptin in feeding regulation. We conclude that ghrelin is a physiological mediator of feeding, and probably has a function in growth regulation by stimulating feeding and release of growth hormone.

Date: 2001
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/35051587 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:409:y:2001:i:6817:d:10.1038_35051587

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/35051587

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().