Diabetes 50:105-112, 2001
© 2001 by the American Diabetes Association, Inc.
Hypoglycemia Activates Orexin Neurons and Selectively Increases Hypothalamic Orexin-B Levels
Responses Inhibited by Feeding and Possibly Mediated by the Nucleus of the Solitary Tract
Xue J. Cai,
Martyn L. Evans,
Carolyn A. Lister,
Ron A. Leslie,
Jonathan R. S. Arch,
Shelagh Wilson, and
Gareth Williams
From the Diabetes and Endocrinology Research Group (X.J.C., G.W.),
University of Liverpool, Liverpool; and the Divisions of Neuroscience (M.L.E.,
R.A.L.) and Vascular Biology (C.A.L., J.R.S.A., S.W.), SmithKline Beecham
Pharmaceuticals, Harlow, U.K.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Dr. Xue J Cai, Diabetes and
Endocrinology Research Unit, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GA, U.K.
E-mail:
xjcai{at}liv.ac.uk
.
Orexins are novel appetite-stimulating peptides expressed in the lateral
hypothalamic area (LHA), and their expression is stimulated by hypoglycemia in
fasted rats. We investigated activation of orexin and other neurons during
insulin-induced hypoglycemia using the immediate early gene product Fos.
Insulin (50 U/kg) lowered plasma glucose by >50% after 5 h and stimulated
feeding sixfold compared with saline-injected controls. Hypoglycemic rats
allowed to feed and normoglycemic controls both showed sparse Fos-positive
(Fos+) neurons in the LHA and the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) and
arcuate nucleus (ARC) and showed none in the nucleus of the solitary tract
(NTS), which relays visceral feeding signals to the LHA. In the LHA, total
numbers of Fos+ neurons were comparable in fed hypoglycemic and
control groups (60 ± 6 vs. 52 ± 4 cells/mm2,
P > 0.05), as were Fos+ neurons immunoreactive for
orexin (1.4 ± 0.4 vs. 0.6 ± 0.4 cells/mm2, P
> 0.05). By contrast, hypoglycemic rats that were fasted showed
significantly more Fos+ nuclei in the LHA (96 ± 10
cells/mm2, P < 0.05, vs. both other groups) and
Fos+ orexin neurons (8.4 ± 3.3 cells/mm2,
P < 0.001, vs. both other groups). They also showed two- to
threefold more Fos+ nuclei (P < 0.001) in the PVN and
ARC than both fed hypoglycemic rats and controls and showed strikingly
abundant Fos+ neurons in the NTS and dorsal motor nucleus of the
vagus. In parallel studies, whole hypothalamic orexin-A levels were not
changed in hypoglycemic rats, whether fasted or freely fed, whereas orexin-B
levels were 10-fold higher in hypoglycemic fasted rats than in control and
hypoglycemic fed groups. These data support our hypothesis that orexin neurons
are stimulated by falling glucose levels but are readily inhibited by signals
related to nutrient ingestion and suggest that they may functionally link with
neuronal activity in the NTS. Orexin-A and -B may play specific roles in
behavioral or neuroendocrine responses to hypoglycemia.

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Copyright © 2001 by the American Diabetes Association.
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