The interaction between food intake and neuropeptide Y1 receptor gene expression due to aging in Wistar rats

Subject Areas :

Mohammad Khansari ¹ , Negar Panahi ^{2 *} , S Hosseinzadeh ³ , Morteza Zendehdel ⁴

1 - ‎Department of Veterinary Basic Sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, ‎Iran
2 - Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Specialized Veterinary Sciences, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran.
3 - Veterinary Medicine Faculty, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
4 - Department of Basic Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2024-12-16 Accepted : 2025-02-09 Published : 2025-03-19

Keywords: Aging, neuropeptide Y, gene expression, rat, hypothalamus,

Abstract :

Food intake and energy expenditure are influenced by age. The primary purpose of this research is to study aging and changes in food consumption. Regarding the age changes in food intake, we investigated the level of NPY1R expression with age in the hypothalamus. The study examined food consumption and energy intake in young males (aged 20-25 weeks) and old males (aged 120-125 weeks). Brain samples were collected from twenty-four male rats, which included control groups (aged 20 weeks), young groups (aged 25 weeks), and old groups (aged 125 weeks). The expression of the NPY1R gene was analyzed using a real-time PCR technique. We observed that food intake and NPY1R gene expression significantly change with age. Although food intake was lower in old rats than in young rats, we found that NPY1R gene expression, which increases food intake, was upregulated significantly in aged rats. In conclusion, this research suggests that the NPY1R gene expression pattern in the hypothalamus for food intake changes with age.

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