Endocrine Abstracts

Two members of the melanocortin (MC) receptor family are abundantly expressed in the adrenal cortex, namely MC2R and MC5R. MC2R binds only ACTH and is known as the ACTH receptor, the role of MC5R however is still under investigation. It is known that alpha-MSH stimulates aldosterone secretion by the rat adrenal cortex, by an MC2R-independent mechanism, although the receptor involved has not been identified. The experiments were designed to investigate the role of MC5R in the a...

In addition to expression in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, POMC is also expressed in a group of neurons in the caudal aspect of the nucleus of the solitary tract, the primary site of synapse of vagal afferent fibers. To test the hypothesis that the brainstem POMC neurons may be involved in satiety signaling, we assessed whether genetic or pharmacological blockade of MC4-R could attenuate the ability of CCK to inhibit food intake. CCK-8s was administered to female C5...