Among its many functions, prolactin has been implicated in energy homeostasis, particularly during pregnancy and lactation. The arcuate nucleus is a key site in the regulation of energy balance. The aim of this study was to examine whether arcuate nucleus neuronal populations involved in energy homeostasis are prolactin responsive and if they can mediate the effects of prolactin on energy homeostasis. To determine if Agrp neurons or Rip-Cre neurons are prolactin responsive, transgenic mice expressing the reporter td-tomato in Agrp neurons (td-tomato/AgRP-Cre) or Rip-Cre neurons (td-tomato/Rip-Cre) were treated with prolactin and perfused 45 minutes later. Brains were processed for double-labeled immunohistochemistry for pSTAT5, a marker of prolactin-induced intracellular signaling, and td-tomato. In addition, Agrp-Cre mice and Rip-Cre mice were crossed with mice in which the prolactin receptor gene (Prlr) was flanked with LoxP sites (Prlr(lox/lox) mice). The Prlr(lox/lox) construct was designed such that Cre-mediated recombination resulted in deletion of the Prlr and expression of GFP in its place. In td-tomato/Rip-Cre mice, prolactin-induced pSTAT5 was co-localized with td-tomato, indicating that there is a subpopulation of Rip-Cre neurons in the arcuate nucleus that respond to prolactin. Furthermore, mice with a specific deletion of Prlr in Rip-Cre neurons had lower body weights, increased oxygen consumption, increased running wheel activity, and numerous cells in the arcuate nucleus had positive GFP staining indicating deletion of Prlr from Rip-Cre neurons. In contrast, no co-localization of td-tomato and pSTAT5 was observed in td-tomato/Agrp-Cre mice following prolactin treatment. Moreover, Prlr(lox/lox) /Agrp-Cre mice had no positive GFP staining in the arcuate nucleus and did not differ in body weight compared to litter mate controls. Overall these results indicate that Rip-Cre neurons in the arcuate nucleus are responsive to prolactin and may play a role in the orexigenic effects of prolactin, while prolactin does not directly affect Agrp neurons. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 08 April 2017.
All research outputs
#16,597,003
of 24,417,958 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Neuroendocrinology
#852
of 1,331 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#211,159
of 332,304 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Neuroendocrinology
#10
of 19 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 24,417,958 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 21st percentile – i.e., 21% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 1,331 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 7.9. This one is in the 21st percentile – i.e., 21% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 332,304 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 27th percentile – i.e., 27% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 19 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 47th percentile – i.e., 47% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
