Endocrine Abstracts

Maternal obesity is associated with altered metabolic function in the offspring, but its age and sex-specific metabolic effect not clearly defined. Female adult Sprague–Dawley (SD) rats were fed an obesogenic diet – high fat diet of 7.76 kcal/g (experimental group) or standard rat chow (3.52 kcal/g, control group) for 8 weeks prior to mating and throughout gestation and lactation. Proven fertile male SD rats were used for mating. Male and female offspring were weaned...

This study aimed at investigating the effect of high sucrose diet on male reproductive function and if Nigerian honey could exert a protective role. Twenty-four rats were randomly divided into four equal groups of six animals and given water (control); honey (H); high sucrose solution (30%w/v) (HSS); and both high sucrose solution (30%w/v) and honey (HSS+H). Each rat on honey received a daily dose of 10 ml honey/kg per 5 ml of distilled water. Food intake, body weight, organ w...

A growing number of studies have reported beneficial health effects of cocoa and turmeric, including atherosclerosis, hypertension and insulin resistance. Relatively few studies have investigated the preventive or therapeutic effects of cocoa and turmeric against obesity-related metabolic disorders and co-pathologies. The study was undertaken to determine the effects of cocoa and turmeric powder supplementation on glucose tolerance, insulin sensitivity and lipid profile in rat...

We examined the effect of dietary niacin supplementation on fat mass, glucose control, insulin sensitivity, lipid profile, and adiponectin level in diet-induced obese rats. Twenty-one male Sprague-Dawley rats (n=21) were initially divided into two (2) groups of seven and fourteen rats; the group of 14 rats was fed with a high-fat-diet (HFD) and the other group of 7 rats consumed the control diet. Eight weeks after the diet regimen started, half of the rats from the HFD group w...

Several epidemiological evidences indicate that consumption of coffee is associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM); however, there is dearth of experimental data to support these observations. Given that associations do not necessarily infer causality; the present study investigate the effect of coffee consumption on glucose regulation, T2DM and the probable mechanisms of action, if any, using an animal model. Twenty-four (24) Sprague–Dawley rats wei...

The posterodorsal medial amygdala (MePD) is a neural site in the limbic brain involved in regulating emotional and sexual behaviours. There is however limited information on the specific neuronal cell type in the MePD functionally mediating these behaviours in rodents. The recent discovery of a significant kisspeptin neurone population in the MePD has raised interest in the possible role of kisspeptin and its cognate receptor in sexual be...

The posterodorsal medial amygdala (MePD) is a neural site in the limbic brain involved in regulating emotional and sexual behaviours. There is however limited information on the specific neuronal cell type in the MePD functionally mediating these behaviours in rodents. The recent discovery of a significant kisspeptin neurone population in the MePD has raised interest in the possible role of kisspeptin and its cognate receptor in sexual be...

The medial amygdala (MeA) is crucial for sexual behavior; kisspeptin (Kiss1) also plays a role in sexual function. Kisspeptin receptor (Kiss1r) knockout mice display no sexual behavior. Recently Kiss1 and Kiss1r have been discovered in the posterodorsal subnucleus of the medial amygdala (MePD). We hypothesized that Kiss1 in the MePD may have an influence on male sexual behavior. To test this we bilaterally cannulated the MePD and infused kisspeptin-10 in male rats. This caused...