| First Author | Saito K | Year | 2016 |
| Journal | Sci Rep | Volume | 6 |
| Pages | 23459 | PubMed ID | 26988598 |
| Mgi Jnum | J:259565 | Mgi Id | MGI:6102065 |
| Doi | 10.1038/srep23459 | Citation | Saito K, et al. (2016) PI3K in the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus mediates estrogenic actions on energy expenditure in female mice. Sci Rep 6:23459 |
| abstractText | Estrogens act in the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH) to regulate body weight homeostasis. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these estrogenic effects are unknown. We show that activation of estrogen receptor-alpha (ERalpha) stimulates neural firing of VMH neurons expressing ERalpha, and these effects are blocked with intracellular application of a pharmacological inhibitor of the phosphatidyl inositol 3-kinase (PI3K). Further, we demonstrated that mice with genetic inhibition of PI3K activity in VMH neurons showed a sexual dimorphic obese phenotype, with only female mutants being affected. In addition, inhibition of VMH PI3K activity blocked effects of 17beta-estradiol to stimulate energy expenditure, but did not affect estrogen-induced anorexia. Collectively, our results indicate that PI3K activity in VMH neurons plays a physiologically relevant role in mediating estrogenic actions on energy expenditure in females. |
