Endocrine Abstracts

The vitamin A-derived hormone retinoic acid (RA) is best known for its essential role in development, but components of the RA signalling pathway are also expressed in regions of the adult brain, including the hypothalamus, which regulates feeding behaviour, metabolism and body weight. RA is synthesised by the tanycytes lining the third ventricle and has recently been found to regulate cell proliferation in the hypothalamus. Some animals, such as the hamster and F344 rat, alte...