Key result
Selective overexpression of MRAP2 in PVN MC4R-expressing neurons reduced age-related weight gain and improved glucose/insulin profiles in female mice on chow diet and male mice on high fat diet.
Overexpression of MRAP2 in PVN MC4R-expressing neurons regulates food intake and energy expenditure in a sex- and diet-dependent manner.
May inform sex-specific obesity interventions targeting hypothalamic MRAP2; leaves open translation from mouse models to clinical practice.
Melanocortin 2 receptor accessory protein 2 (MRAP2) has a critical role in energy homeostasis. Although MRAP2 has been shown to regulates a number of GPCRs involved in metabolism, the key neurons responsible for the phenotype of gross obesity in MRAP2 deficient animals are unclear. Furthermore, to date, all the murine MRAP2 models involve the prenatal deletion of MRAP2. To target Melanocortin 4 receptor (MC4R)-expressing neurons in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN), we performed stereotaxic surgery using AAV to selectively overexpress MRAP2 postnatally in adult Mc4r-cre mice. We assessed energy homeostasis, glucose metabolism, core body temperature, and response to MC3R/MC4R agonist MTII. Mc4r-crePVN-MRAP2 female mice on a standard chow diet had less age-related weight gain and improved glucose/insulin profile compared to control Mc4r-crePVN-GFP mice. These changes were associated with a reduction in food intake and increased energy expenditure. In contrast, Mc4r-crePVN-MRAP2 male mice showed no improvement on a chow diet, but improvement of energy and glucose metabolism was observed following high fat diet (HFD) feeding. In addition, an increase in core body temperature was found in both females fed on standard chow diet and males fed on HFD. Mc4r-crePVN-MRAP2 female and male mice showed increased neuronal activation in the PVN compared to controls, with further increase in neuronal activation post MTII treatment in females. Our data indicate a site-specific role for MRAP2 in PVN MC4R-expressing neurons in potentiating MC4R neuronal activation at baseline conditions in the regulation of food intake and energy expenditure.
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Bruschetta et al. (2018) studied Energy homeostasis. Selective overexpression of MRAP2 postnatally using AAV vs. Control Mc4r-crePVN-GFP mice was evaluated on Energy homeostasis, glucose metabolism, core body temperature, and response to MC3R/MC4R agonist MTII. Selective overexpression of MRAP2 in PVN MC4R-expressing neurons reduced age-related weight gain and improved glucose/insulin profiles in female mice on chow diet and male mice on high fat diet.
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