Abstract:
Mammals have evolved sex-specific adaptations to reduce energy usage in times of food scarcity. These adaptations are well described for peripheral tissue, though much less is known about how the energy-expensive brain adapts to food restriction, and how such adaptations differ across the sexes. Here, we examined how food restriction impacts energy usage and function in the primary visual cortex (V1) of adult male and female mice. Molecular analysis and RNA sequencing in V1 revealed that in males, but not in females, food restriction significantly modulated canonical, energy-regulating pathways, including pathways associated waith AMP-activated protein kinase, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha, mammalian target of rapamycin, and oxidative phosphorylation. Moreover, we found that in contrast to males, food restriction in females did not significantly affect V1 ATP usage or visual coding precision (assessed by orientation selectivity). Decreased serum leptin is known to be necessary for triggering energy-saving changes in V1 during food restriction. Consistent with this, we found significantly decreased serum leptin in food-restricted males but no significant change in food-restricted females. Collectively, our findings demonstrate that cortical function and energy usage in female mice are more resilient to food restriction than in males. The neocortex, therefore, contributes to sex-specific, energy-saving adaptations in response to food restriction.
摘要:
哺乳动物已经进化出针对性别的适应性,以减少食物短缺时的能量使用。这些适应对于外周组织有很好的描述,尽管人们对能源昂贵的大脑如何适应食物限制知之甚少,以及这种适应在不同性别之间的差异。这里,我们研究了食物限制如何影响成年雄性和雌性小鼠初级视觉皮层(V1)的能量使用和功能.V1的分子分析和RNA测序显示,在男性中,但不是女性,食物限制显著调节规范,能量调节途径,包括与waithAMP激活的蛋白激酶相关的途径,过氧化物酶体增殖物激活受体α,哺乳动物雷帕霉素靶,和氧化磷酸化。此外,我们发现与男性相比,女性的食物限制没有显著影响V1ATP使用或视觉编码精度(通过取向选择性评估).已知降低血清瘦素对于在食物限制期间触发V1的节能变化是必需的。与此一致,我们发现,在食物限制的男性中,血清瘦素显著降低,但在食物限制的女性中没有显著变化。总的来说,我们的发现表明,雌性小鼠的皮质功能和能量使用比雄性小鼠更能适应食物限制。大脑皮层,因此,有助于特定性别,针对食物限制的节能适应。