Abstract #2336

Chaudhri O, Kuo Y, Parkinson J, Herlihy A, Stanley S, Ghatei M, Bell J, Bloom S

Obesity is a major cause of death. The need for new therapies for obesity has led to interest in the mechanisms of energy balance. Gut hormones are important physiological regulators of appetite. Here we use mangenese-enhamned MRI techniques to investigate the site, degree and timing of the effects of the anorexigenic gut hormone oxyntomodulin on MRI signal in the mouse hypothalamus. Oxyntomodulin modulates manganese-enhanced MRI signal in specific areas of the hypothalamus in mice.