Leptin is an adipose-derived hormone that acts on hypothalamic leptin receptors to regulate energy balance. Leptin receptors are also expressed in extrahypothalamic sites including the ventral tegmental area (VTA), critical to brain reward circuitry. We report that leptin targets DA and GABA neurons of the VTA, inducing phosphorylation of signal-transducer-and-activator-of-transcription-3 (STAT3). Retrograde tracing combined with pSTAT3 immunohistochemistry show leptin-responsive VTA neurons projecting to nucleus accumbens (NAc). Assessing leptin function in the VTA, we showed that ob/ob mice had diminished locomotor response to amphetamine and lacked locomotor sensitization to repeated amphetamine injections, both defects reversed by leptin infusion. Electrically stimulated DA release from NAc shell terminals was markedly reduced in ob/ob slice preparations, and NAc DA levels and TH expression were lower. These data define a role for leptin in mesoaccumbens DA signaling and indicate that the mesoaccumbens DA pathway, critical to integrating motivated behavior, responds to this adipose-derived signal.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by the selective vulnerability of the nigrostriatal dopaminergic circuit. Recently, loss-offunction mutations in the PTEN-induced kinase 1 (PINK1) gene have been linked to early-onset PD. How PINK1 deficiency causes dopaminergic dysfunction and degeneration in PD patients is unknown. Here, we investigate the physiological role of PINK1 in the nigrostriatal dopaminergic circuit through the generation and multidisciplinary analysis of PINK1 ؊/؊ mutant mice. We found that numbers of dopaminergic neurons and levels of striatal dopamine (DA) and DA receptors are unchanged in PINK1 ؊/؊ mice. Amperometric recordings, however, revealed decreases in evoked DA release in striatal slices and reductions in the quantal size and release frequency of catecholamine in dissociated chromaffin cells. Intracellular recordings of striatal medium spiny neurons, the major dopaminergic target, showed specific impairments of corticostriatal long-term potentiation and long-term depression in PINK1 ؊/؊ mice. Consistent with a decrease in evoked DA release, these striatal plasticity impairments could be rescued by either DA receptor agonists or agents that increase DA release, such as amphetamine or L-dopa. These results reveal a critical role for PINK1 in DA release and striatal synaptic plasticity in the nigrostriatal circuit and suggest that altered dopaminergic physiology may be a pathogenic precursor to nigrostriatal degeneration.neurodegeneration ͉ Parkinson's disease ͉ substantia nigra P arkinson's disease (PD) is the most common movement disorder and is characterized by bradykinesia, rigidity, resting tremor, and postural instability. These clinical features are thought to result from reduced dopaminergic input to the striatum and the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the pars compacta of the substantia nigra (SNpc). Although the occurrence of PD is largely sporadic, mutations in five distinct genes have been linked to clinical syndromes that are often indistinguishable from sporadic PD. Of these, mutations in the parkin, DJ-1, and PINK1 (PTEN induced kinase 1) genes are recessively inherited and include large exonic deletions or frame-shift truncations, suggesting a loss-of-function pathogenic mechanism (1-3).PINK1 was originally identified as a gene whose transcription was activated by the tumor suppressor PTEN in carcinoma cell lines (4). The PINK1 gene has eight exons spanning 1.8 kb and encodes 581 aa residues. The deduced amino acid sequence indicates that PINK1 contains a mitochondrial targeting motif (amino acids 1-34) and a kinase domain (amino acids 156-509) that is highly homologous to Ca 2ϩ /calmodulin-dependent kinases. Since the first report linking recessively inherited nonsense (W437X) and missense (G309D) mutations in PINK1 to familial PARK6 cases (3), large numbers (Ͼ30) of additional truncation and missense mutations have been identified in early-onset PD cases with or without family history (5-11). Genetic analysis revealed that homozygous and compound heterozygous mutatio...

The manifestations of Parkinson's disease are caused by reduced dopaminergic innervation of the striatum. Loss-of-function mutations in the DJ-1 gene cause early-onset familial parkinsonism. To investigate a possible role for DJ-1 in the dopaminergic system, we generated a mouse model bearing a germline disruption of DJ-1. Although DJ-1(-/-) mice had normal numbers of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra, evoked dopamine overflow in the striatum was markedly reduced, primarily as a result of increased reuptake. Nigral neurons lacking DJ-1 were less sensitive to the inhibitory effects of D2 autoreceptor stimulation. Corticostriatal long-term potentiation was normal in medium spiny neurons of DJ-1(-/-) mice, but long-term depression (LTD) was absent. The LTD deficit was reversed by treatment with D2 but not D1 receptor agonists. Furthermore, DJ-1(-/-) mice displayed hypoactivity in the open field. Collectively, our findings suggest an essential role for DJ-1 in dopaminergic physiology and D2 receptor-mediated functions.

Summary Leptin acts on leptin receptor (LepRb)-expressing neurons throughout the brain, but the roles for many populations of LepRb neurons in modulating energy balance and behavior remain unclear. We found that the majority of LepRb neurons in the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) contain neurotensin (Nts). To investigate the physiologic role for leptin action via these LepRbNts neurons, we generated mice null for LepRb specifically in Nts neurons (Nts-LepRbKO mice). Nts-LepRbKO mice demonstrate early-onset obesity, modestly increased feeding, and decreased locomotor activity. Furthermore, consistent with the connection of LepRbNts neurons with local OX neurons and the ventral tegmental area (VTA), Nts-LepRbKO mice exhibit altered regulation of OX neurons and the mesolimbic DA system. Thus, LHA LepRbNts neurons mediate physiologic leptin action on OX neurons and the mesolimbic DA system, and contribute importantly to the control of energy balance.

Increased caloric intake in dietary obesity could be driven by central mechanisms that regulate reward-seeking behavior. The mesolimbic dopamine system, and the nucleus accumbens in particular, underlies both food and drug reward. We investigated whether rat dietary obesity is linked to changes in dopaminergic neurotransmission in that region. Sprague-Dawley rats were placed on a cafeteria-style diet to induce obesity or a laboratory chow diet to maintain normal weight gain. Extracellular dopamine levels were measured by in vivo microdialysis. Electrically evoked dopamine release was measured ex vivo in coronal slices of the nucleus accumbens and the dorsal striatum using real-time carbon fiber amperometry. Over 15 weeks, cafeteria-diet fed rats became obese (>20% increase in body weight) and exhibited lower extracellular accumbens dopamine levels than normal weight rats (0.007±0.001 vs. 0.023±0.002 pmol/sample; P<0.05). Dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens of obese rats was stimulated by a cafeteria-diet challenge, but it remained unresponsive to a laboratory chow meal. Administration of d-amphetamine (1.5 mg/kg i.p.) also revealed an attenuated dopamine response in obese rats. Experiments measuring electrically evoked dopamine signal ex vivo in nucleus accumbens slices showed a much weaker response in obese animals (12 vs. 25 × 10 6 dopamine molecules per stimulation, P<0.05). The results demonstrate that deficits in mesolimbic dopamine neurotransmission are linked to dietary obesity. Depressed dopamine release may lead obese animals to compensate by eating palatable "comfort" food, a stimulus that released dopamine when laboratory chow failed.Keywords nucleus accumbens; striatum; feeding; body weight; amphetamine; hyperphagia The rapid rise of dietary obesity in industrialized societies indicates that non-homeostatic signaling pathways that allow for chronic positive energy intake may be responsible. A crucial question is why laboratory animals and humans keep on eating energy-rich, palatable food to the degree that they become obese. From an evolutionary perspective, it is to be expected that the brain developed a system to respond to natural rewards, such as food. These central mechanisms are conserved across species in order to ensure survival (Kelley and Berridge,