Endocrine Abstracts

The rising prevalence of type 2 diabetes can be directly related to increasing levels of population obesity and associated insulin resistance. Adipose tissue has neuroanatomically well characterized sympathetic innervation (with activation initiating lipid mobilization), but little evidence to support the presence of a (putatively counter-regulatory) parasympathetic input (Bartness & Song 2007). Parasympathetic actions are mediated through muscarinic acetylcholine receptor...

The hypothalamic peptide, cocaine and amphetamine regulated transcript (CART) was originally reported to act as an anorexigenic peptide. However, we have recently shown that CART injection into the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (ARC), acutely stimulates food intake. Here, we characterise the role of arcuate nucleus CART in the long term regulation of food intake and brown adipose tissue (BAT) using i) repeated intra-arcuate injection of CART peptide [CART(55-102)] and ii) polye...