Food Intake in Birds: Hypothalamic Mechanisms Betty R. Mcconn
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Food intake in birds: hypothalamic mechanisms Betty R. McConn Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In Animal and Poultry Sciences Mark A. Cline, Chair Elizabeth R. Gilbert Paul B. Siegel D. Michael Denbow Wayne J. Kuenzel April 16, 2018 Blacksburg, VA Keywords: hypothalamus, food intake, chicken, Japanese quail Copyright 2018, Betty R. McConn Food intake in birds: hypothalamic mechanisms Betty R. McConn ABSTRACT (Academic) Feeding behavior is a complex trait that is regulated by various hypothalamic neuropeptides and neuronal populations (nuclei). Understanding the physiological regulation of food intake is important for improving nutrient utilization efficiency in agricultural species and for understanding and treating eating disorders. Knowledge about appetite in birds has agricultural and biomedical relevance and provides evolutionary perspective. I thus investigated hypothalamic molecular mechanisms associated with appetite in broilers, layers, chicken lines selected for low (LWS) or high (HWS) body weight, and Japanese quail, which provide a unique perspective to understanding appetite. Broiler-type chicks have been genetically selected for rapid growth and consume much more feed than do layer-type chicks which have been selected for egg production. Long-term selection has caused the LWS chicks to have different severities of anorexia while the HWS chicks become obese, thus making these lines a valuable model for metabolic disorders. Lastly, the Japanese quail have not undergone as extensive artificial selection as the chicken, thus this model may provide insights on how human intervention has changed the mechanisms that regulate feeding behavior in birds. This research involved applying a variety of different treatments including fasting and refeeding, diets differing in macronutrient composition, and/or central administration of neuropeptide Y, xenopsin, neuropeptide K, oxytocin, mesotocin, gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone, and prolactin-releasing peptide, after which I measured feeding behavior and various aspects of hypothalamic physiology. I measured nuclei activation in hypothalamic appetite-associated regions including the lateral hypothalamus, paraventricular nucleus, ventromedial hypothalamus, dorsomedial nucleus, and arcuate nucleus and I measured gene expression of various appetite-associated factors in the whole hypothalamus and individual nuclei. These data provided information about the regions of the brain involved in mediating effects on appetite and the molecular pathways involved in the effect on appetite. There were differences in dose threshold sensitivity to various injected factors in the different stocks, differential responses to fasting and refeeding, and differences in nuclei and genes that were activated in response to the various treatments. These data provide valuable insights on the molecular mechanisms that are associated with the short-term regulation of feeding behavior and pathways that may be genetically stock-dependent. Food intake in birds: hypothalamic mechanisms Betty R. McConn ABSTRACT (public) Poultry production and welfare may be enhanced by regulating food intake of chickens during specific stages of growth, resulting in improved nutrient utilization efficiency. For example, broiler breeders are feed restricted to achieve target weights in order to prevent obesity and other disorders and improve performance. To affect the appetite of chickens, an understanding of the neural mechanisms mediating food intake is needed but there is a lack of information in this area. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was to elucidate some of these mechanisms that control appetite regulation in poultry using chickens and quail as models. Several neuropeptide- associated pathways were studied and appetite-related molecular mechanisms were elucidated for neuropeptides K and Y, oxytocin, mesotocin, gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone, prolactin- releasing peptide, xenopsin, different macronutrient composition diets, and fasting and refeeding. Table of Contents Abstract (academic)-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ii Abstract (public)----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------iv List of tables-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------xxi List of figures----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------xxiii Chapter 1. Literature review---------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 Appetite regulation-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 Neuroendocrine regulation after fasting-----------------------------------------------------------6 Dietary macronutrient effects-----------------------------------------------------------------------7 Neuropeptide Y---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------8 Xenopsin---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10 Neuropeptide K-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10 Oxytocin and Mesotocin---------------------------------------------------------------------------11 Gonadotropin-inhibitory hormone----------------------------------------------------------------12 Prolactin-releasing peptide------------------------------------------------------------------------12 References-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------13 Chapter 2. Fed, fasted, and refed Japanese quail have differential hypothalamic appetite- associated factor mRNA profiles--------------------------------------------------------------------------30 Abstract----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------30 Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------30 Materials and methods-----------------------------------------------------------------------------32 Animals-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------32 v Experiment 1: food intake in ad libitum fed quail during the light and dark cycle-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------33 Experiment 2: food intake in fasted quail during the light cycle--------------------33 Experiment 3: Hypothalamic mRNA abundance in fasted, fed and refed quail------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------33 Results------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------36 Experiment 1: food intake in ad libitum fed quail during the light and dark cycle-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------36 Experiment 2: food intake in 6 h-fasted quail during the light cycle---------------39 Experiment 3: Hypothalamic mRNA abundance in fed, fasted and refed quail------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------42 Discussion-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------44 References-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------50 Chapter 3. Dietary macronutrient composition affects hypothalamic appetite regulation in chicks ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------59 Abstract----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------59 Introduction------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------59 Materials and methods-----------------------------------------------------------------------------62 Animals-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------62 Experiment 1: food intake and body weights------------------------------------------64 Experiment 2: food intake and hypothalamic mRNA after fasting and refeeding------------------------------------------------------------------------------------65 Total RNA isolation, reverse transcription and real-time PCR----------------------66 vi Results------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------68 Food intake and body weights-----------------------------------------------------------68 Food intake and hypothalamic mRNA after fasting and refeeding-----------------69 Discussion-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------73 Effects of the high fat diets on growth and food intake-------------------------------73 Effects of the high protein diet on growth and food intake--------------------------75 Hypothalamic molecular mechanisms underlying dietary effects on food intake and growth----------------------------------------------------------------------------------76 Conclusions and implications---------------------------------------------------------------------82 References-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------82 Chapter 4. Dietary macronutrient composition and central neuropeptide