Behavioral Neurobiology Commons^™

Cyclic Gmp: A Satiety Signal In C. Elegans, Ji S. Park

Theses and Dissertations

Appetite control and satiety mechanisms help animals maintain energy homeostasis; however, these mechanisms can be misregulated, leading to overweight and obesity. Caenorhabditis elegans is an excellent model system to study appetite and satiety because of its conserved behavioral aspects of satiety and conserved molecular mechanisms. ASI senses nutrition and its activity is required for the behavioral state of satiety quiescence. The purpose of this thesis project was to elucidate the function of cGMP signaling in ASI by looking at behavioral effects from the pharmacological use of sildenafil (Viagra), a PDE inhibitor, and the effects on ASI activation from mutating guanylyl …