Circadian rhythms of behavior in rodents are regulated by a system of circadian oscillators, including a master light-entrainable pacemaker in the suprachiasmatic nucleus that mediates synchrony to the day-night cycle, and food-entrainable oscillators located elsewhere that generate rhythms of food-anticipatory activity (FAA) synchronized to daily feeding schedules. Despite progress in elucidat...

When food availability is restricted to a single time of day, circadian rhythms of behavior and physiology in rodents shift to anticipate the predictable time of food arrival. It has been hypothesized that certain food-anticipatory rhythms are linked to the induction and entrainment of rhythms in clock gene expression in the dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus (DMH), a putative food-entrained circ...

BACKGROUND RFamide-related peptide-3 (RFRP-3) and kisspeptin (KiSS-1) are known to respectively inhibit and stimulate gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) and lute- inizing hormone (LH) secretion in rat. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relative mRNA expression of RFRP-3 and KiSS-1 in the hypothalamus of pregnant rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS In a randomized controlled experime...

Bi, Sheng, Benjamin M. Robinson, and Timothy H. Moran. Acute food deprivation and chronic food restriction differentially affect hypothalamic NPY mRNA expression. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 285: R1030–R1036, 2003. First published July 3, 2003; 10.1152/ajpregu.00734.2002.— Although acute food deprivation and chronic food restriction both result in body weight loss, they produce diffe...

RFamide-related peptide 3 (RFRP3), the mammalian homologue of avian gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone, has been shown to negatively regulate the secretion of LH and may contribute to reproductive seasonality in some species. Herein, we examined the presence and potential role of the RFRP3-signaling system in regulating LH secretion in the mare during the breeding and nonbreeding seasons. Hypothal...

Monoaminergic systems are important modulators of the neuroendocrine, autonomic, and behavioral responses to stress-related stimuli. The male roughskin newt (Taricha granulosa) was used as a model system to investigate the effects of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) or corticosterone administration on tissue concentrations of norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic ...

The hypothalamus regulates numerous autonomic responses and behaviors. The neuroactive substances corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), arginine-vasopressin (AVP), histidine decarboxylase (HDC), melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH), and orexin/hypocretins (ORX) produced in the hypothalamus mediate a subset of these processes. Although the expression patterns of these genes have been well studied...

Desai BN, Harris RB. Leptin in the hindbrain facilitates phosphorylation of STAT3 in the hypothalamus. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab 308: E351–E361, 2015. First published December 30, 2014; doi:10.1152/ajpendo.00501.2014.—Leptin receptors (ObRs) in the forebrain and hindbrain have been independently recognized as important mediators of leptin responses. We recently used low-dose leptin infusion...