Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2024, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (6): 2672-2679.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2024.06.038

• Basic Veterinary Medicine • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Glutamatergic Neurons in Locus Ceruleus Mediated in the Regulation of Body Weight in Mice

Guojun LI1(), Xiaojuan CAO1(), Haodong LIU2,3,4(), Penghui LI2,3,4, Jiacheng LI2,3,4, Qi FAN2,3,4, Xing WANG2,3,4, Yujie CHEN1, Rihan HAI1, Xiaoyu ZHANG1, Chenguang DU1,2,3,4,*()   

  1. 1. Vocational and Technical College of Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Baotou 014109, China
    2. Key Laboratory of Veterinary Basis and Disease Prevention and Control of Herbivorous Livestock in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Hohhot 010018, China
    3. Key Laboratory of Colleges and Universities in Animal Embryo and Development Engineering Autonomous Region, Hohhot 010018, China
    4. College of Veterinary Medicine, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot 010018, China
  • Received:2023-09-25 Online:2024-06-23 Published:2024-06-28
  • Contact: Chenguang DU E-mail:liguojun6688@163.com;zykyk@163.com;lhd@emails.imau.edu.cn;duc@imau.edu.cn

Abstract:

Hypothalamus is an important brain area involved in the regulation of food intake, which has a complex circuit regulation mechanism. However, it is not clear whether there are nuclei that also play a role in weight regulation outside the hypothalamus. Therefore, in this study, the neural circuit tracer technique was used to identify the distribution and projection pattern of neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC) projecting to the interscapular brown adipose tissue (IBAT), and to explore the morphological basis of central neurons and neural circuits regulating energy homeostasis. The reporter gene and retrograde tracing were used to identify the localization of vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGlut2) and extracellular regulated protein kinase (ERK) neurons in the brain, and the anterograde tracing experiment expanded the brain area where VGlut2 neurons sent innervation. The body weight and feeding regulation of VGlut2 immunoreactive neurons were verified by chemical genetics. The results showed that LCVGlut2:: ERK neurons sent dense innervation signals to IBAT. ERK immunoreactive neurons are enriched and expressed in LC and can be used as specific markers of LC. LCVGlut2 neurons project to the striatum (CPu), secondary motor cortex (M2), ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH) and dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMV). Chemical genetic activation of LCVGlut2 neurons significantly decreased body weight (P=0.016 5) and feed intake (P=0.029 0). These results suggesting that LCVGlut2 neurons were involved in the process of body weight regulation in mice. Identification of glutamatergic neurons other than paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus (PVN) and downstream neural circuits regulating body weight will further understand the feeding mechanism and provide some inspiration for the development of obesity drugs.

Key words: hypothalamus, glutamatergic neurons, locus ceruleus, body weight

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