Collateralizing ventral subiculum melanocortin 4 receptor circuits regulate energy balance and food motivation.

Hippocampal dysfunction is associated with major depressive disorder, a serious mental illness characterized by not only depressed mood but also appetite disturbance and dysregulated body weight. However, the underlying mechanisms by which hippocampal circuits regulate metabolic homeostasis remain incompletely understood. Here we show that collateralizing melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) circuits in the ventral subiculum (vSUB), one of the major output structures of the hippocampal formation, affect food motivation and energy balance.

Hypomorphism of a Novel Long ERα Isoform Causes Severe Reproductive Dysfunctions in Female Mice.

Estrogen receptor alpha (ERα)-mediated estrogen signaling plays a pivotal role in both reproductive and nonreproductive functions. Transcriptional regulation of the ERα gene is highly complex, with multiple transcript variants being differentially produced across the tissues. However, tissue-specific variation and physiological specificity of the ERα variants are not yet fully understood.

Use of intraoperative frontal sinus mometasone-eluting stents decreased interleukin 5 and interleukin 13 in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps.

Background: Mometasone-eluting stents (MES) have demonstrated improvement in short-term endoscopic outcomes and reduce short- to medium-term rescue interventions. Their effect on the local inflammatory environment, longer-term patient-reported outcomes, and radiographic severity have not been studied.

Methods: Middle meatal mucus and validated measures of disease severity were collected before and 6 to 12 months after endoscopic surgery in 52 patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNPs).

Neuroanatomical organization and functional roles of PVN MC4R pathways in physiological and behavioral regulations.

Objective: The paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus (PVN), an integrative center in the brain, orchestrates a wide range of physiological and behavioral responses. While the PVN melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) signaling (PVN) is involved in feeding regulation, the neuroanatomical organization of PVN connectivity and its role in other physiological regulations are incompletely understood. Here we aimed to better characterize the input-output organization of PVN neurons and test their physiological functions beyond feeding.

Behavioral Alterations in Mice Carrying Homozygous Missense Mutation Associated With Eating Disorder.

Eating disorders (EDs) are serious mental illnesses thought to arise from the complex gene-environment interactions. DNA methylation patterns in histone deacetylase 4 () locus have been associated with EDs and we have previously identified a missense mutation in the gene ( ) that increases the risk of developing an ED. In order to evaluate the biological consequences of this variant and establish a useful mouse model of EDs, here we performed behavioral characterization of mice homozygous for (corresponding to human ) that were further backcrossed onto C57BL/6 background.