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Leptin-regulated endocannabinoids are involved in maintaining food intake

Nature volume 410, pages 822–825 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Leptin is the primary signal through which the hypothalamus senses nutritional state and modulates food intake and energy balance1. Leptin reduces food intake by upregulating anorexigenic (appetite-reducing) neuropeptides, such as α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone2,3, and downregulating orexigenic (appetite-stimulating) factors, primarily neuropeptide Y4. Genetic defects in anorexigenic signalling, such as mutations in the melanocortin-4 (ref. 5) or leptin receptors6, cause obesity. However, alternative orexigenic pathways maintain food intake in mice deficient in neuropeptide Y7. CB1 cannabinoid receptors8 and the endocannabinoids anandamide and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol are present in the hypothalamus9, and marijuana10 and anandamide11,12 stimulate food intake. Here we show that following temporary food restriction, CB1 receptor knockout mice eat less than their wild-type littermates, and the CB1 antagonist SR141716A reduces food intake in wild-type but not knockout mice. Furthermore, defective leptin signalling is associated with elevated hypothalamic, but not cerebellar, levels of endocannabinoids in obese db/db and ob/ob mice and Zucker rats. Acute leptin treatment of normal rats and ob/ob mice reduces anandamide and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol in the hypothalamus. These findings indicate that endocannabinoids in the hypothalamus may tonically activate CB1 receptors to maintain food intake and form part of the neural circuitry regulated by leptin.

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Figure 1: Food intake in CB1-/- mice and their CB1+/+ littermates in the absence and presence of the CB1 receptor antagonist SR141716A.
Figure 2: Hypothalamic levels of anandamide and 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG).
Figure 3: Hypothalamic levels of anandamide (AEA), 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG) and palmitoyl ethanolamide (PEA).
Figure 4: Effect of SR141716A on food intake in NPY-deficient mice.
Figure 5: Effect of SR141716A on food intake in obese mice.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Zimmer for heterozygote breeding pairs for the CB1-/-and CB1+/+ mice. This study was supported by grants from the NIH to G.K. Z.J. and S.B. were supported by fellowships from Sanofi Research (Montpellier, France) and the Martin Rodbell visiting program, respectively. V.D.M. was the recipient of a Human Frontier Science Program short-term fellowship.

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Author notes

  1. Lei Wang, Jie Liu, Sándor Bátkai & George Kunos

    Present address: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, MSC-8115, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892-8115, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Endocannabinoid Research Group, Istituto per la Chimica di Molecole di Interesse Biologico, CNR, Arco Felice, 80072, Naples, Italy

    Vincenzo Di Marzo & Filomena Fezza

  2. Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, 23298, Virginia, USA

    Sravan K. Goparaju, Lei Wang, Jie Liu, Sándor Bátkai, Zoltán Járai & George Kunos

  3. Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195, Washington, USA

    Grant I. Miura & Richard D. Palmiter

  4. Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Teikyo University, Sagamiko, 199-0195, Kanagawa, Japan

    Takayuki Sugiura

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Correspondence to George Kunos.

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Di Marzo, V., Goparaju, S., Wang, L. et al. Leptin-regulated endocannabinoids are involved in maintaining food intake. Nature 410, 822–825 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35071088

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