Description: We examined a mutation of GHSR in rats and found that these animals were more sensitive to ghrelin and gained more body weight as fat without eating more food than their wild-type littermates.
psychiatry (628) physiology (116) pharmacology (98) neurosciences (84) assays (28) ligands (7) molecular genetics (6) gpcr (6) signaling pathways (6) g protein-coupled receptors (1)
Jacques Pantel and his collaborators work on the functional consequences of modulating G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) using genetic or drug discovery approaches. Their field of interest currently focuses on centrally expressed GPCR drug targets involved in body weight control.
Key words : G protein-coupled receptors, drug discovery, mutation, GHSR, eating disorders.
The hormone ghrelin, initially discovered for its growth hormone secretagogue properties and popularized for its actions on food intake, adiposity and glucose metabolism is now considered as a pleiotropic hormone. However, the delineation of the physiological role of this hormone or its receptor the Growth Hormone Secretagogue Receptor (GHSR) using conventional knockout models was complicated by several factors. Among these, one might list the elaborated regulation of the active form of ghrelin, the existen