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Mahogany, blood–brain barrier, and fat mass surge in AVY mice

Abstract

Avy/agouti (Avy) mice have late onset obesity related to overexpression of agouti signaling protein (ASP) in the hypothalamus. As mahogany modulates the actions of ASP, we tested the transport of mahogany peptide across the blood–brain barrier (BBB). The brain uptake of mahogany peptide was significantly higher in young Avy mice, and it preceded the surge of fat mass quantified by nuclear magnetic resonance. The results suggest a role of accelerated BBB transport in the epigenetics of Avy mice.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by NIH (NS45751 and NS46528 to WP, DK54880 to AJK). We thank Ms Courtney Cain for technical assistance, and Ms Loula Burton for editorial support.

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Correspondence to W Pan.

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Pan, W., Kastin, A. Mahogany, blood–brain barrier, and fat mass surge in AVY mice. Int J Obes 31, 1030–1032 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0803536

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