Mild Hypophagia and Associated Changes in Feeding-Related Gene Expression and c-Fos Immunoreactivity in Adult Male Rats with Sodium Valproate-Induced Autism
A core yet understudied symptom of autism is aberrant eating behaviour, including extremely narrow food preferences. Autistic individuals often refuse to eat despite hunger unless preferred food is given. We hypothesised that, apart from aberrant preference, underfeeding stems from abnormal hunger p...
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MDPI AG
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Genes |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/13/2/259 |
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| author | Tapasya Pal Kathryn J. Laloli Cushla A. Moscrip Pawel K. Olszewski Anica Klockars |
| author_facet | Tapasya Pal Kathryn J. Laloli Cushla A. Moscrip Pawel K. Olszewski Anica Klockars |
| author_sort | Tapasya Pal |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A core yet understudied symptom of autism is aberrant eating behaviour, including extremely narrow food preferences. Autistic individuals often refuse to eat despite hunger unless preferred food is given. We hypothesised that, apart from aberrant preference, underfeeding stems from abnormal hunger processing. Utilising an adult male VPA rat, a model of autism, we examined intake of ‘bland’ chow in animals maintained on this diet continuously, eating this food after fasting and after both food and water deprivation. We assessed body weight in adulthood to determine whether lower feeding led to slower growth. Since food intake is highly regulated by brain processes, we looked into the activation (c-Fos immunoreactivity) of central sites controlling appetite in animals subjected to food deprivation vs. fed ad libitum. Expression of genes involved in food intake in the hypothalamus and brain stem, regions responsible for energy balance, was measured in deprived vs. sated animals. We performed our analyses on VPAs and age-matched healthy controls. We found that VPAs ate less of the ‘bland’ chow when fed ad libitum and after deprivation than controls did. Their body weight increased more slowly than that of controls when maintained on the ‘bland’ food. While hungry controls had lower c-Fos IR in key feeding-related areas than their ad libitum-fed counterparts, in hungry VPAs c-Fos was unchanged or elevated compared to the fed ones. The lack of changes in expression of feeding-related genes upon deprivation in VPAs was in contrast to several transcripts affected by fasting in healthy controls. We conclude that hunger processing is dysregulated in the VPA rat. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T21:53:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c2a33f05659645e49c1c6e8ca85695d4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4425 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T21:53:08Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Genes |
| spelling | doaj.art-c2a33f05659645e49c1c6e8ca85695d42023-11-23T20:04:05ZengMDPI AGGenes2073-44252022-01-0113225910.3390/genes13020259Mild Hypophagia and Associated Changes in Feeding-Related Gene Expression and c-Fos Immunoreactivity in Adult Male Rats with Sodium Valproate-Induced AutismTapasya Pal0Kathryn J. Laloli1Cushla A. Moscrip2Pawel K. Olszewski3Anica Klockars4School of Science, University of Waikato, Hamilton 3240, New ZealandSchool of Science, University of Waikato, Hamilton 3240, New ZealandSchool of Science, University of Waikato, Hamilton 3240, New ZealandSchool of Science, University of Waikato, Hamilton 3240, New ZealandSchool of Science, University of Waikato, Hamilton 3240, New ZealandA core yet understudied symptom of autism is aberrant eating behaviour, including extremely narrow food preferences. Autistic individuals often refuse to eat despite hunger unless preferred food is given. We hypothesised that, apart from aberrant preference, underfeeding stems from abnormal hunger processing. Utilising an adult male VPA rat, a model of autism, we examined intake of ‘bland’ chow in animals maintained on this diet continuously, eating this food after fasting and after both food and water deprivation. We assessed body weight in adulthood to determine whether lower feeding led to slower growth. Since food intake is highly regulated by brain processes, we looked into the activation (c-Fos immunoreactivity) of central sites controlling appetite in animals subjected to food deprivation vs. fed ad libitum. Expression of genes involved in food intake in the hypothalamus and brain stem, regions responsible for energy balance, was measured in deprived vs. sated animals. We performed our analyses on VPAs and age-matched healthy controls. We found that VPAs ate less of the ‘bland’ chow when fed ad libitum and after deprivation than controls did. Their body weight increased more slowly than that of controls when maintained on the ‘bland’ food. While hungry controls had lower c-Fos IR in key feeding-related areas than their ad libitum-fed counterparts, in hungry VPAs c-Fos was unchanged or elevated compared to the fed ones. The lack of changes in expression of feeding-related genes upon deprivation in VPAs was in contrast to several transcripts affected by fasting in healthy controls. We conclude that hunger processing is dysregulated in the VPA rat.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/13/2/259autismfeedingfood intakeoxytocin |
| spellingShingle | Tapasya Pal Kathryn J. Laloli Cushla A. Moscrip Pawel K. Olszewski Anica Klockars Mild Hypophagia and Associated Changes in Feeding-Related Gene Expression and c-Fos Immunoreactivity in Adult Male Rats with Sodium Valproate-Induced Autism Genes autism feeding food intake oxytocin |
| title | Mild Hypophagia and Associated Changes in Feeding-Related Gene Expression and c-Fos Immunoreactivity in Adult Male Rats with Sodium Valproate-Induced Autism |
| title_full | Mild Hypophagia and Associated Changes in Feeding-Related Gene Expression and c-Fos Immunoreactivity in Adult Male Rats with Sodium Valproate-Induced Autism |
| title_fullStr | Mild Hypophagia and Associated Changes in Feeding-Related Gene Expression and c-Fos Immunoreactivity in Adult Male Rats with Sodium Valproate-Induced Autism |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mild Hypophagia and Associated Changes in Feeding-Related Gene Expression and c-Fos Immunoreactivity in Adult Male Rats with Sodium Valproate-Induced Autism |
| title_short | Mild Hypophagia and Associated Changes in Feeding-Related Gene Expression and c-Fos Immunoreactivity in Adult Male Rats with Sodium Valproate-Induced Autism |
| title_sort | mild hypophagia and associated changes in feeding related gene expression and c fos immunoreactivity in adult male rats with sodium valproate induced autism |
| topic | autism feeding food intake oxytocin |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/13/2/259 |
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