Tong Qingchun, Ye Chian-Ping, Jones Juli E, Elmquist Joel K, Lowell Bradford B
Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, 99 Brookline Ave., Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA.
Nat Neurosci. 2008 Sep;11(9):998-1000. doi: 10.1038/nn.2167.
The physiologic importance of GABAergic neurotransmission in hypothalamic neurocircuits is unknown. To examine the importance of GABA release from agouti-related protein (AgRP) neurons (which also release AgRP and neuropeptide Y), we generated mice with an AgRP neuron-specific deletion of vesicular GABA transporter. These mice are lean, resistant to obesity and have an attenuated hyperphagic response to ghrelin. Thus, GABA release from AgRP neurons is important in regulating energy balance.
γ-氨基丁酸(GABA)能神经传递在下丘脑神经回路中的生理重要性尚不清楚。为了研究刺鼠相关蛋白(AgRP)神经元释放GABA(这些神经元还释放AgRP和神经肽Y)的重要性,我们培育出了特异性缺失囊泡GABA转运体的AgRP神经元小鼠。这些小鼠体型瘦,对肥胖有抵抗力,并且对胃饥饿素的摄食亢进反应减弱。因此,AgRP神经元释放GABA在调节能量平衡中很重要。