Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1997 Oct 3;278(5335):135-8.
doi: 10.1126/science.278.5335.135.

Antagonism of central melanocortin receptors in vitro and in vivo by agouti-related protein

M M Ollmann  1 , B D Wilson, Y K Yang, J A Kerns, Y Chen, I Gantz, G S Barsh
Affiliations

Antagonism of central melanocortin receptors in vitro and in vivo by agouti-related protein

M M Ollmann et al. Science. .

Erratum in

  • Science 1998 Sep 11;281(5383):1615

Abstract

Expression of Agouti protein is normally limited to the skin where it affects pigmentation, but ubiquitous expression causes obesity. An expressed sequence tag was identified that encodes Agouti-related protein, whose RNA is normally expressed in the hypothalamus and whose levels were increased eightfold in ob/ob mice. Recombinant Agouti-related protein was a potent, selective antagonist of Mc3r and Mc4r, melanocortin receptor subtypes implicated in weight regulation. Ubiquitous expression of human AGRP complementary DNA in transgenic mice caused obesity without altering pigmentation. Thus, Agouti-related protein is a neuropeptide implicated in the normal control of body weight downstream of leptin signaling.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms