Research Information System
SIGMA JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING AND NATURAL SCIENCES, vol.42, no.5, pp.1-8, 2024 (ESCI)
The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of feeding time on NPY/AgRP protein and mRNA
expression in the brain during prenatal and postnatal periods. Feeding at different times of the day during pregnancy
may have lasting effects on the hypothalamic circuitry in offspring energy homeostasis. In the experimental design,
adult female hamsters were randomly assigned to receive three different feeding conditions: ad libitum, night-time
feeding and day-time feeding groups. After the lactation period, feeding regimens were continued for the offspring
born from mothers who were given nutritional regimens, until they were 30 days old. RT-PCR for NPY/AgRP mRNA
expression and ELISA analysis for protein levels were performed on hypothalamus tissues of hamsters at 10, 20 and
30 days of postnatal stage. There was no difference between the groups in terms of the daily measured food
consumption of the offspring's. Body weights were significantly decreased in both night-time and day-time feeding
groups compared to the ad libitum group (p<0.05). The highest increase in mRNA expression of NPY/AgRP was seen
in the samples taken at 10. day of lactation in the night-time and day-time feeding groups of the offspring treated with
three different feeding regimens. When the feeding regimes were compared, it was observed that the protein and
mRNA expression of both NPY and AGRP increased the most in the offspring groups in which the feeding was
restricted night –time only. Early stages of development have shown that maternal factors have significantly affected
the offspring NPY and AgRP mRNA expression and protein levels. These results show that the metabolic regulation
of energy balance may change with maternal factors during the very early stages of development.