Neuropeptide y gene expression around meal time in the brazilian flounder paralichthys orbignyanus

• Autor(a) principal: Campos, Vinicius Farias
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Outros Autores: Robaldo, Ricardo Berteaux, Deschamps, João Carlos, Seixas, Fabiana Kömmling, Alan, John Alexander McBride, Marins, Luis Fernando Fernandes, Okamoto, Marcelo Hideo, Sampaio, Luís André Nassr de, Collares, Tiago Veiras
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da FURG (RI FURG)
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.furg.br/handle/1/3404; http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12038-012-9205-7
• topic: Food intake; mRNA expression; NPY; Paralichthys orbignyanus

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is considered the major stimulant for food intake in mammals and fish. Previous results indicate that NPY is involved in the feeding behaviour of the Brazilian flounder, Paralichthys orbignyanus. In this study, we evaluated hypothalamic NPY expression before (−2 h), during (0 h) and after feeding (+2 h) in two independent experiments: (1) during a normal feeding schedule and (2) in fish fasted for 2 weeks. During normal feeding, changes in the levels of NPY mRNA were periprandial, with expression levels being significantly elevated at meal time (P<0.05) and significantly reduced 2 h later (P<0.05). Comparing the fasting and unfasted groups, NPY mRNA levels were significantly higher (P<0.05) at −2 h and +2 h in the fasting group, but there was no difference at 0 h. In addition, the higher NPY mRNA levels that were observed in the fasting group were maintained throughout the sampling period. In summary, our results show that NPY expression was associated with meal time (0 h) in food intake regulation.