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Departments of Psychiatry (J.L.L., R.J.S.) and Medicine (D.A.D.), University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio 45267-0559; Department of Neuroscience (L.R.), University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260; Departments of Medicine and Neurology and Division of Endocrinology (J.K.E.), Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Program in Neuroscience Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02215; and Department of Medicine (D.J.D.), Banting and Best Diabetes Centre, Toronto General Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 2C4
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Randy J. Seeley, Department of Psychiatry, 2170 East Galbraith Road, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45237.
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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Understanding the neural regulation of visceral illness is of great clinical importance because activation of this pathway occurs commonly in clinical medicine and is frequently limiting in many medical conditions. Based on our studies with GLP-1R antagonism and LiCl in rats, we hypothesized that GLP-1 plays a critical role in the coordinated responses to visceral illness. Although these initial results are compelling, there are limitations inherent in studies dependent on the use of pharmacological antagonists. Consequently, alternative approaches are important to validate the role of GLP-1 signaling in mediating the response to LiCl. To this end, we assessed the effects of LiCl in mice with a targeted disruption of the only identified GLP-1R (13). We predicted that mice lacking GLP-1Rs would have attenuated or absent responses to aversive agents such as LiCl. This prediction, however, was incorrect. As a consequence, subsequent experiments sought to understand the critical differences between the pharmacological studies in rats and the genetic studies in mice that support discrepant conclusions about the role GLP-1 signaling plays in visceral illness.
| Materials and Methods |
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Experiment 1: Activation of proglucagon neurons by LiCl in wild-type mice
Ad libitum-fed wild-type mice were given ip injections of 2% body weight by volume of 0.15 M NaCl or 0.15 M LiCl. Two hours later, mice were anesthetized and perfused with 4% paraformaldehyde. Brains were removed, post fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde overnight, and dehydrated in 20% sucrose at 4 C. Brains were blocked in half coronally, and the hindbrains were cut into 25-µm coronal sections using a freezing microtome and refrigerated overnight in 0.1 M PBS with 0.02% sodium azide. After rinsing, the sections were quenched in 0.3% H2O2 for 10 min, rinsed again, and blocked in 0.1 M PBS with 0.02% sodium azide, 0.25% Triton X-100, and 3% normal donkey serum for 1 h at room temperature. Immediately after the blocking step, sections were incubated overnight in rabbit anti-Fos (Ab-5; Oncogene Research Products, Boston, MA; 1:50,000 in 0.1 M PBS with 0.02% sodium azide, 0.25% Triton X-100, and 3% normal donkey serum) at room temperature. After rinses, sections were incubated in biotinylated donkey antirabbit secondary (Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories, Inc., West Grove, PA; 1:1000) for 1 h. Sections were then rinsed, incubated in ABC-elite reagents (Vector Laboratories, Burlingame, CA; 1:500), and rinsed again, and sections were incubated for 10 min in nickel cobalt-enhanced 3,3' diaminobenzidine chromogen solution. The tissue was immediately processed for preproglucagon immunoreactivity. The sections were rinsed, quenched in 0.5% H2O2 for 10 min, rinsed again, and blocked in PBS plus 0.25% Triton X-100 and 1% normal donkey serum. Sections were incubated overnight in rabbit antioxyntomodulin (a peptide product of proglucagon cosecreted with GLP-1; 1:7000) (14) at room temperature. Sections were rinsed three times in 0.1 M Tris-HCl and 0.15 M NaCl (pH 7.5) with 0.05% Tween 20 and blocked in 0.5% Blocking Reagent (TSA Biotin System; PerkinElmer Life Sciences, Inc., Wellesley, MA) for 30 min. Tissue was then incubated in biotinylated donkey antirabbit secondary antibody (1:1000) for 1 h. Sections were rinsed, incubated in ABC-elite reagents (1:250) for 30 min, and washed three times for 5 min each. After washing, tissue was incubated for 10 min in biotinyl tyramide (1:50 in the Amplification Diluent; TSA Biotin System). After washes, tissue was incubated in ABC-elite reagents (1:250) for 30 min. The sections were washed and then treated for 10 min in a 3,3' diaminobenzidine chromogen solution. After rinsing, sections were mounted on slides and coverslipped. Slides were analyzed by light microscopy. A preproglucagon-positive cell was considered double labeled if the nucleus stained for the blue-black precipitate from the Fos immunodetection.
Experiment 2: LiCl-induced anorexia in wild-type mice and GLP-1R / mice
Male wild-type and GLP-1R / mice (n = 8 per group) had food removed 1 h before lights off. Seventeen hours later, they received 2% of body weight of 0.15 M NaCl, or 0.5, 1.0, or 2.0% of body weight by volume of 0.15 M LiCl. Ten minutes after the injection, food was returned. Intake was measured 30 min later. Over a 10-d interval, each mouse received each of the four treatments in random order with 2 d between successive injections.
Experiment 3: LiCl-induced CTA in wild-type mice and GLP-1R / mice
Ad libitum-fed male wild-type and GLP-1R / mice (n = 8 per group) were given 1-h access to water at the same time each day until their intakes became consistent. On training d 1, each mouse was given 1-h access to one of two novel flavors (20% sucrose flavored with either grape or cherry Kool-Aid (Kraft, Northfield, IL) with half of each group receiving each flavor) instead of water. Immediately after access to the flavor, each mouse received an injection of either 0.15 M LiCl or 0.15 M NaCl (2% of body weight). On the next day, the mice had 1-h access to water, and on the day after that (d 3), each mouse was given the alternate novel flavor (grape or cherry Kool-Aid) and received the alternate injection (either LiCl or saline). An identical flavor/LiCl-saline sequence was repeated on d 5 and 7. Hence, each mouse had 2 d of exposure to each novel flavor and paired injection so that consumption of one of the flavors was always associated with LiCl and consumption of the other flavor was always associated with NaCl. On the test day (d 9), mice were given access to both flavors simultaneously for 1 h, and the intake of each measured.
Experiment 4: GLP-1-induced CTA in wild-type and GLP-1R / mice
Mice were fitted with a 28-gauge stainless steel guide cannula in the lateral ventricle (1.0 mm lateral to bregma and 3.5 mm dorsal to skull). After a 7-d recovery period, ad libitum-fed male wild-type and GLP-1R / mice were given 1-h access to water at the same time each day until the intakes stabilized. On the first training day (d 1), each mouse was given 1-h access to a novel flavor (20% sucrose flavored with cherry Kool-Aid) instead of water. Immediately after access to the flavor, each mouse received either an intracerebroventricular (icv) injection of 5 µg GLP-1 (1-µl injection volume; wild-type, n = 6; and GLP-1R /, n = 7) or a mock icv injection (wild-type, n = 7; and GLP-1R /, n = 8). After a day of 1-h water access, the mice received a second 1-h exposure to the 20% sucrose cherry Kool-Aid solution followed by the matched icv injection. After another water access day, mice received the 20% sucrose cherry Kool-Aid solution, and 1-h intake was measured.
Experiment 5: Effect of GLP-1R blockade on LiCl-induced anorexia in wild-type mice
Male wild-type mice fitted with lateral ventricle cannulas (see details in experiment 4 methods) had food removed 1 h before lights off. After a 17-h fast, mice received an icv injection of either 10 µg des His1 Glu9 exendin-4 (1-µl injection volume) or a mock injection (n = 5 per group). Fifteen minutes after the icv treatment, mice received either 2% of body weight of 0.15 M NaCl or 0.15 M LiCl. Fifteen minutes after the ip injection, food was returned, and intake was measured 30 min later. Over a 6-d interval, each mouse received both of the two peripheral treatments in random order with 2 d between successive injections.
Experiment 6: Effect of GLP-1R blockade on GLP-1-induced anorexia in wild-type mice
Male wild-type mice (n = 5) with indwelling lateral ventricle cannulas (see details in experiment 4 methods) had food removed 1 h before lights off. Seventeen hours later, the mice received an icv injection of either 10 µg des His1 Glu9 exendin-4 (1-µl injection volume) or a mock injection. Fifteen minutes after the first injection, all mice received 5 µg GLP-1 icv (0.5-µl injection volume). Food was returned 15 min after the GLP-1 injection, and 1-h intake measurements were taken. After a 2-d recovery period, the paradigm was repeated such that each mouse received each condition in a within-subjects design.
| Results |
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| Discussion |
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Consistent with the hypothesis that the GLP-1 system has parallel functions in mediating visceral illness in rats and mice, mice exhibited comparable anorexia and CTA formation after either LiCl or central GLP-1 administration (Figs. 24![]()
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). Additionally, our double-label immunohistochemistry in wild-type mice revealed that over 50% of the GLP-1-positive neurons in the nucleus of the solitary tract were also positive for Fos (Fig. 1
). This is comparable to what has been reported in rat (11) and indicates that LiCl increases activity in GLP-1-producing neurons.
Although these experiments support the hypothesis that there is a similar role for GLP-1 signaling to mediate visceral illness in the mouse as has been demonstrated in the rat, the critical experiment is to test the response to LiCl in mice lacking GLP-1Rs. LiCl is equally capable of suppressing food intake or producing a CTA in GLP-1R / mice and their wild-type controls (Figs. 2
and 3
). Thus, despite the data using pharmacological antagonists in the rat, GLP-1R signaling is not required for at least some of the symptoms of visceral illness produced by LiCl in mice.
The question that we must now face is how to reconcile the disparate conclusions derived from using pharmacological antagonists in rats and genetic disruptions in mice. As the use of genetic manipulations has increased, such discrepancies have become more common. One possibility is that the critical actions for GLP-1 to induce visceral illness are the result of binding to a receptor other than the GLP-1R targeted in these mice. This seems unlikely given that no other GLP-1Rs have been identified to date and that GLP-1 is ineffective to produce anorexia (13) and a CTA (Fig. 4
) in GLP-1R / mice.
Another possibility is that mice with targeted disruption of GLP-1R compensate for the lack of GLP-1R signaling during development and recruit alternative systems to mediate the responses to visceral illness. To test this possibility, we assessed the ability of des His1 Glu9 exendin-4 to act as a GLP-1R antagonist. As in the rat, des His1 Glu9 exendin-4 blocked the ability of GLP-1 to produce anorexia in wild-type mice (Fig. 6
). Knowing that des His1 Glu9 exendin-4 could act as a functional antagonist to the GLP-1R in the mouse, we could then test the ability of the GLP-1R antagonist to block the effects of LiCl in the mouse. Central administration of the GLP-1R antagonist was unable to block the effects of LiCl like it had in the rat (Fig. 5
). This outcome suggests that GLP-1R signaling plays only a minor role in mediating behavioral responses to LiCl toxicity in mice and/or that there is considerable redundancy in the murine visceral illness pathway.
Taken together, these results indicate that there is a significant species difference between rats and mice in the organization of the response to visceral illness. Interestingly, this species difference is neither the result of differences in the ability of LiCl to increase activity of preproglucagon neurons (Fig. 1
) nor the result of GLP-1 to produce symptoms of visceral illness (Fig. 4
). Rather, the species difference is the result of differing levels of dependence on GLP-1R signaling to mediate the effects of aversive agents such as LiCl. One lesson from such an outcome is that generalizations between rat and mouse need to be done with great care. Although intermixing experiments in rat and mouse can greatly increase the ability to test specific hypotheses, the possibility for significant species differences cannot be ignored.
Needless to say, the relevant question arising from the current work is whether primates (including humans) are more similar to rats or mice in the central organization of the visceral illness response. Future research will need to address the organization and function of the GLP-1 system in the human CNS. The issue has added importance because several GLP-1-related therapies continue to progress toward the clinical treatment of type 2 diabetes. It is critical that we understand not only the role of the peripheral GLP-1 system to control insulin secretion but also the various roles of GLP-1 signaling pathways within the CNS.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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Present address for J.L.L.: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 99 Brookline Street, RN 343, Boston, Massachusetts 02215.
First Published Online September 30, 2004
Abbreviations: CNS, Central nervous system; CTA, conditioned taste aversion; GLP-1, glucagon-like peptide-1; GLP-1R, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor; icv, intracerebroventricular; LiCl, lithium chloride.
Received April 1, 2004.
Accepted for publication September 23, 2004.
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