Victoria Dong
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Martin Myers Jr
Research Mentor School/College/Department: / Medicine
Program:
Authors: Victoria Dong, Desiree Gordian, Mike Ayensu-Mensah, Anika Puttaiah, Mouhamadoul Habib Toure, Stace Kernodle, Jae Hoon Shin, Martin G. Myers
Session: Session 6: 3:40 pm – 4:30 pm
Poster: 27
Abstract
Signals from the gut act in the dorsal vagal complex (DVC) to promote meal termination and mediate aversive responses to gastrointestinal malaise. In this region, molecularly identified neuron populations of the area postrema (AP) and nucleus tractus solitarius (NTS) remain relatively unstudied due to the difficulty of stereotaxically targeting them in mice. To understand and compare the circuitry and function of AP and NTS neurons that express the calcitonin receptor (Calcr), we generated a CalcrCre rat model. We injected an adeno-associated virus (AAV) to cre-dependently express the activating (hM3Dq)designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs (DREADD) to artificially activate CalcrCre-expressing cells in the AP and NTS and investigated the role of these neurons in feeding behaviors. Post hoc analysis identified animals that expressed hM3Dq only in AP and NTS Calcr neurons and the CNO induced activation of these neurons. This study aimed to understand and compare the circuitry and function of AP and NTS neurons that express the calcitonin receptor through CalcrCre rat models to determine if such neurons suppress food intake and promote aversive responses. We found that CNO treatment on Calcr-AP neurons does play a role in short-term feeding but does not induce a conditioned taste aversion. Overall, we found that AP Calcr neurons do not promote aversive responses; these neurons may represent targets for the suppression of food intake and body weight over the long term to treat obesity.
