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Obesity is associated with increased circulating level of the hormone leptin. Previously we have shown in mice that, leptin induces hypertension acting on transient receptor potential melastatin 7 (Trpm7) channels in the carotid body (CB), a multi-modal peripheral chemoreceptor organ that controls breathing and drives sympathetic tone. Further, in mice leptin augments hypoxic ventilatory response which is abolished by CB denervation. This suggests a potential involvement of CB chemosensitivity. However, no comparative study of CB chemosensory responses has been conducted in lean and obese mice to support this notion. Based on these premises, we hypothesize that obese mice should have higher leptin induced CB chemosensory responses during normoxia and hypoxia compared to lean mice, and Trpm7 receptor antagonist should abolish/reduce these responses. To prove this, we measured afferent carotid sinus nerve (CSN) activity, using a novel ex vivo perfused mouse (male) CB preparation from lean (b.w.; 35 ± 0.5 gm) and diet induced obese (DIO) mice (b.w.; 53 ± 1.5gm) with C57BL/6J background. We found that compared to lean mice; (a) CSN response to hypoxia (PO 2 =60 Torr) was 50% more in obese mice, (b) in presence of leptin (50nM), CSN responses to normoxia (PO 2 =100Torr) and hypoxia were augmented 50% and 150% more respectively in obese mice. Finally, leptin induced increase in CSN responses were partially reduced by Trpm7 antagonist FTY720 (3μM) in obese compared to lean mice. In conclusion, CB chemosensitivity is enhanced in obese compared to lean mice and CB Trpm7 channel could be a therapeutic target for obesity related hypertension. Grant support: NIH R01 HL1331000. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.
Roy et al. (Wed,) studied this question.