Graduation Semester and Year
2007
Language
English
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Biology
Department
Biology
First Advisor
Howard Arnott
Abstract
The melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) family of neuropeptides is believed to be important in controlling certain feeding behaviors. Recently, the distribution of melanin-concentrating-1 receptor (MCH-1R) in rat brains was published revealing that it is expressed throughout the rat brain. Mice lacking MCH and MCH-1R have been generated and have been found to be leaner and hyperactive. Consequently, MCH-1R has become a possible site for pharmacologically controlling obesity. However, areas expressing MCH-1R in the mouse brain still remain unknown. Therefore, in situ hybridization was performed on both mouse and rat brains to compare the MCH-1R expression between these animals. This comparison study revealed that most of the positive nuclei were represented in both rodents and these areas displayed similar expression intensities. However, a subset of nuclei was found to display MCH-1R expression differently. These expression differences reside in brain areas that could possibly explain dissimilarities in feeding behaviors between mice and rats.
Disciplines
Biology | Life Sciences
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Williams, Sidney Clayborn, "Comparing The Melanin-concentrating Hormone -1 Receptor Expression In The Brains Of Mice And Rats" (2007). Biology Theses. 25.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/biology_theses/25
Comments
Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington