Excess weight gain is the most significant, preventable cause of increased blood pressure (BP) in patients with primary (essential) hypertension and increases the risk for cardiovascular and renal diseases. In this review, we discuss the role of the brain melanocortin system in causing increased sympathetic activity in obesity and other forms of hypertension. In addition, we highlight potential mechanisms by which the brain melanocortin system modulates metabolic and cardiovascular functions.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/physiol.00061.2013 | DOI Listing |
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Defining Hyperphagia for Improved Diagnosis and Management of MC4R Pathway-Associated Disease: A Roundtable Summary.
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Section on Growth and Obesity, Division of Intramural Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Purpose Of Review: Hyperphagia is a condition associated with rare obesity-related diseases, presenting as a pathologic, insatiable hunger accompanied by abnormal food-seeking behaviors. In October 2023, a group of researchers and clinicians with expert knowledge on hyperphagia convened at the annual ObesityWeek meeting to discuss the need for a unified definition of hyperphagia and key items necessary to improve the identification, assessment, and treatment of hyperphagia in patients with melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R) pathway-associated diseases.
Recent Findings: The definition of hyperphagia proposed by this group is a pathologic, insatiable hunger accompanied by abnormal food-seeking behaviors.
regulates melanocortin 4 receptor transcription and energy homeostasis.
Sci Transl Med
January 2025
Hypothalamic Research Center, Department of Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas TX, 75390, USA.
Disruption of hypothalamic melanocortin 4 receptors (MC4Rs) causes obesity in mice and humans. Here, we investigated the transcriptional regulation of in the hypothalamus. In mice, we show that the homeodomain transcription factor Orthopedia (OTP) is enriched in MC4R neurons in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus and directly regulates transcription.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLocalization of Melanocortin 1 Receptor in the Substantia Nigra.
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Department of Anatomy, Dokkyo Medical University School of Medicine, 880 Kita-Kobayashi, Mibu-machi, Shimotsuga-gun 321-0293, Tochigi, Japan.
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- Recent research indicates that a deficiency in the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) is linked to neurodegeneration similar to Parkinson's disease in a specific brain region called the substantia nigra (SN).
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- The results show that MC1R is involved not only in the cell membrane but also in organelles like mitochondria, suggesting that it, along with a modulator called attractin (Atrn), plays an important role in
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College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100, China. Electronic address:
The melanocortin-3 receptor (MC3R) was recognized for its critical role in energy metabolism and inflammatory responses in mammals; however, its functions in fish remain poorly understood. This study characterized the mc3r gene in goldfish, investigating its sequence, tissue distribution, and pharmacological responses. The coding sequence of goldfish mc3r was 975 bp, translating to a 325-amino-acid protein typical of G protein-coupled receptors, with notable conservation across cyprinids.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGender differences of neurometabolic and neuroendocrine alternations and its lateralization in adolescents with major depressive disorder.
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Department of Psychiatry, First Affiliated Hospital, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510630, China.
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