Endocrine Abstracts

For many animals anticipation of future changes in environmental conditions is a critical adaptation for survival. Seasonal changes in reproductive activity, body weight and adiposity, metabolism and coat condition are examples of such adaptive physiology. Clearly each of these involves neuroendocrine control. The environmental cue that triggers these changes is photoperiod, which is translated into the hormonal signal, melatonin, a product of the pineal gland. A considerable ...

The consumption of a high energy (HE) diet causes a range of weight gain responses in the human population with some individuals resistant to diet induced obesity (DIO). The SD rat provides a model for DIO and this study examines the effects of HE diet on bodyweight, food intake and hypothalamic neuropeptide gene expression. 28 male out-bred SD rats (280.7±2.19g) were fed chow ad-libitum (AL) for 4 days then divided into 2 weight-matched groups: 20 rats were fed HE diet...