1998 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

Screening of new appatite regulating factors

Research Project

Project/Area Number	09660132
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	食品科学・栄養科学
Research Institution	The University of Tokyo
Principal Investigator	HIDAKA Tomomi The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Associate Professor, 大学院・農学生命科学研究科, 助教授 (60212164)
Project Period (FY)	1997 – 1998
Keywords	leptin / appetite regulation / Ca^<2+> / calmodulin / NPY / biosensor
Research Abstract	To understand the leptin's action on hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (ARC), Ca^<2+>/calmodulin (CAM) -dependent response in leptin-treated rat ARC was investigated. The in vitro phosphorylation of ARC extracts from leptin-treated rats did not respond to CaM.Although CaM-dependent protein kinase ll activity was not affected by leptin, the gene expression of calcineurin, CaM-dependent phosphatase, increased in leptin-treated rats. In the purpose of getting tools for understanding the leptin's biological actions, low molecular weight microbial metabolites, which interact with leptin, were screened using a BlAcore instrument (BlAcore2000, Biacore), the surface plasmon resonance sensor. As a results, linoleic acid was isolated as a active compound. It was revealed that the double bond and the carboxyl group of fatty acids are essential for the binding affinity.