This study used a pharmacological approach to evaluate the consequences of the metabolic perturbations of neurotransmitters on brain development. Pregnant rats received p‐chlorophenylalanine (pCPA), an inhibitor of serotonin (5‐hydroxytryptamine, 5‐HT) synthesis, or saline (control) from the 11th day of gestation once or daily up to the 15th, 17th and 20th day, followed by processing of the forebrain and/or nasal cranium of foetal males and females for high‐performance liquid chromatography of monoamines, radioimmunoassay of gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) and quantitative and semiquantitative immunocytochemistry for GnRH. The pCPA treatment resulted in a 50–70% depletion of 5‐HT in the nasal crania and forebrains at any studied age. Radioimmunoassay showed no change in GnRH content in 5‐HT deficient foetuses at E16 compared to controls, being higher in both cases in the rostral forebrain than in the hypothalamus. In controls at E21, the GnRH content in the hypothalamus exceeded that in the rostral forebrain, whereas in the 5‐HT deficient group the opposite was found. These data suggest that 5‐HT provided a stimulating effect on GnRH neurone migration, and this was confirmed by quantification of GnRH‐immunoreactive neurones in the forebrain along the trajectory of their migration. At E18 and E21, the fractions of GnRH neurones in the rostral part of the trajectory in pCPA‐treated foetuses were greater than those in control foetuses but the opposite was true for the caudal part of the trajectory. Moreover, 5‐HT appeared to control the proliferation of the precursor cells of GnRH neurones and their differentiation, as derived from the observations of the increased number of GnRH neurones in the forebrain of foetuses of both sexes, as well as the region‐specific decreased neuronal size and content of GnRH in 5‐HT‐deficient females. Thus, 5‐HT appears to contribute to the regulation of the origin, differentiation and migration of GnRH neurones.
The net effect is anorexia, with the inhibition of food intake, body weight loss, delayed gastric emptying and functions, the stimulation of gluconeogenesis, glycogenolysis and ketogenesis as sources of metabolic fuel, which if unabated leads ultimately to cachexia. The use of antagonists and the removal of stress or noxious stimuli experimentally test different pathways of this dynamic metabolic picture. Several studies have demonstrated important progress towards our understanding of the central mechanisms involved in anorexia and weight loss, which we summarize in this review.
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