Detection of hypothalamic neuropeptite levels involved in appetite regulation in aripiprazole treatment


Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Fen Edebiyat Fakültesi, Biyolojik Bilimler Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2014

Öğrenci: SERHAT ÖZDEMİR

Eş Danışman: MAHİNUR AKKAYA, TÜLİN YANIK

Özet:

Disruption or malfunctioning of neurotransmitter pathways, especially serotonergic and dopaminergic pathways are closely related to psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. Antipsychotic medications are becoming widespread; however, in long term treatments, these drugs lead to considerable amount of weight gain as a side effect. Metformin, an antidiabetic drug, has previously been used to treat antipsychotic induced weight gain and aripiprazole has been defined as a neutral antipsychotic drug in terms of weight gain. Yet, the underlying action mechanisms of these drugs are still inadequately understood. Hypothalamic neuropeptides releasing from arcuate nucleus (ARC) are known to be responsible for appetite and energy metabolism regulation. The aim of this study is to investigate the alteration of candidate gene expression levels of hypothalamic neuro peptides, neuropeptide Y (NPY) and proopiomelanocortin (POMC) by administration of metformin and aripiprazole to male Wistar rats for 14 weeks. We hypothesized that metformin may cause an increase in POMC mRNA levels and decrease in NPY mRNA levels while aripiprazole may act as a negative control of metformin. Our results demonstrated that NPY mRNA levels were significantly decreased in both metformin administered and aripiprazole coadministered group, on the other hand, POMC mRNA levels were unexpectedly decreased in all groups.