Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Estrogen has been implicated in feeding behavior and adiposity. This study was undertaken to elucidate the mechanism underlying the anti-obesity and anorectic action of estrogen and the role of estrogen receptor (ER) in the central nervous system.
METHODS AND RESULTS: Ovariectomy in 8-week-old female Wistar rats induced hyperphagia along with an increase in body weight and abdominal fat accumulation compared to control sham-operated rats. These changes were fully reversed by subcutaneous replacement of estradiol and were abrogated by pair-feeding. Then, the effects of intracerebroventricular infusion of estradiol, alone or in combination with antisense oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN), for ER in ovariectomized rats were examined. The estradiol group showed 10–20% lower daily food intake, and after the 2-week infusion period a 14% reduction in body weight with a similar reduction in abdominal fat compared to the vehicle group. The inhibitory effect of estradiol on food intake and body weight was blocked by co-administration of ER-ß antisense ODN, whereas ER-α antisense ODN did not show any influence.
CONCLUSION: These results indicate that ER-ß in the central nervous system is involved in the anorectic action of estrogen.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research no. 11770347, no. 11470157, no. 13557062) and from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan (H10-Choju-007).
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Liang, YQ., Akishita, M., Kim, S. et al. Estrogen receptor ß is involved in the anorectic action of estrogen. Int J Obes 26, 1103–1109 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802054
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0802054
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