BVT.3531 reduces body weight and activates K(ATP) channels in isolated arcuate neurons in rats.

A number of hormones, including leptin, have been shown to inhibit food intake in humans and animals. Analogues of 3-guanidinopropionic acid have also been found to reduce total food intake, but their mechanisms of action have not been well studied. The present study investigated the effects of intracerebroventricular infusion of the analogue BVT.3531 on food intake, meal pattern, and body weight in rats during 7 days. Single channel recordings from arcuate neurons and insulinoma cells were used to determine the effects of BVT.3531 on K(ATP) activity. Data analysis showed that BVT.3531 significantly decreased body weight and food intake, primarily by reducing meal size. BVT.3531 activated K(ATP) channels in cell-attached recordings from insulin-secreting cells and rat arcuate neurons but had no effect on K(ATP) channel activity in inside-out membrane patches from either cell type. BVT.3531 did not alter the firing rate or K(+) channel activity of arcuate neurons devoid of K(ATP). The study suggests that small molecules capable of mimicking the effects of leptin on food intake and body weight may utilize output mechanisms similar to those of leptin to elicit changes in arcuate neuron excitability.

Leptin and insulin stimulation of signalling pathways in arcuate nucleus neurones: PI3K dependent actin reorganization and KATP channel activation.

BACKGROUND: Leptin and insulin are long-term regulators of body weight. They act in hypothalamic centres to modulate the function of specific neuronal subtypes, by altering transcriptional control of releasable peptides and by modifying neuronal electrical activity. A key cellular signalling intermediate, implicated in control of food intake by these hormones, is the enzyme phosphoinositide 3-kinase. In this study we have explored further the linkage between this enzyme and other cellular mediators of leptin and insulin action on rat arcuate nucleus neurones and the mouse hypothalamic cell line, GT1-7. RESULTS: Leptin and insulin increased the levels of various phosphorylated signalling intermediates, associated with the JAK2-STAT3, MAPK and PI3K cascades in the arcuate nucleus. Inhibitors of PI3K were shown to reduce the hormone driven phosphorylation through the PI3K and MAPK pathways. Using isolated arcuate neurones, leptin and insulin were demonstrated to increase the activity of KATP channels in a PI3K dependent manner, and to increase levels of PtdIns(3,4,5)P3. KATP activation by these hormones in arcuate neurones was also sensitive to the presence of the actin filament stabilising toxin, jasplakinolide. Using confocal imaging of fluorescently labelled actin and direct analysis of G- and F-actin concentration in GT1-7 cells, leptin was demonstrated directly to induce a re-organization of cellular actin, by increasing levels of globular actin at the expense of filamentous actin in a PI3-kinase dependent manner. Leptin stimulated PI3-kinase activity in GT1-7 cells and an increase in PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 could be detected, which was prevented by PI3K inhibitors. CONCLUSIONS: Leptin and insulin mediated phosphorylation of cellular signalling intermediates and of KATP channel activation in arcuate neurones is sensitive to PI3K inhibition, thus strengthening further the likely importance of this enzyme in leptin and insulin mediated energy homeostasis control. The sensitivity of leptin and insulin stimulation of KATP channel opening in arcuate neurones to jasplakinolide indicates that cytoskeletal remodelling may be an important contributor to the cellular signalling mechanisms of these hormones in hypothalamic neurones. This hypothesis is reinforced by the finding that leptin induces actin filament depolymerization, in a PI3K dependent manner in a mouse hypothalamic cell line.

Dynamic imaging of free cytosolic ATP concentration during fuel sensing by rat hypothalamic neurones: evidence for ATP-independent control of ATP-sensitive K(+) channels.

Glucose-responsive (GR) neurons from hypothalamic nuclei are implicated in the regulation of feeding and satiety. To determine the role of intracellular ATP in the closure of ATP-sensitive K(+) (K(ATP)) channels in these cells and associated glia, the cytosolic ATP concentration ([ATP](c)) was monitored in vivo using adenoviral-driven expression of recombinant targeted luciferases and bioluminescence imaging. Arguing against a role for ATP in the closure of K(ATP) channels in GR neurons, glucose (3 or 15 mM) caused no detectable increase in [ATP](c), monitored with cytosolic luciferase, and only a small decrease in the concentration of ATP immediately beneath the plasma membrane, monitored with a SNAP25-luciferase fusion protein. In contrast to hypothalamic neurons, hypothalamic glia responded to glucose (3 and 15 mM) with a significant increase in [ATP](c). Both neurons and glia from the cerebellum, a glucose-unresponsive region of the brain, responded robustly to 3 or 15 mM glucose with increases in [ATP](c). Further implicating an ATP-independent mechanism of K(ATP) channel closure in hypothalamic neurons, removal of extracellular glucose (10 mM) suppressed the electrical activity of GR neurons in the presence of a fixed, high concentration (3 mM) of intracellular ATP. Neurons from both brain regions responded to 5 mM lactate (but not pyruvate) with an oligomycin-sensitive increase in [ATP](c). High levels of the plasma membrane lactate-monocarboxylate transporter, MCT1, were found in both cell types, and exogenous lactate efficiently closed K(ATP) channels in GR neurons. These data suggest that (1) ATP-independent intracellular signalling mechanisms lead to the stimulation of hypothalamic neurons by glucose, and (2) these effects may be potentiated in vivo by the release of lactate from neighbouring glial cells.