Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Regulation Of Brain Primary Cilia Length By Mch Signaling: Evidence From Pharmacological, Genetic, Optogenetic, And Chemogenic Manipulations, Wedad Alhassen, Yuki Kobayashi, Jessica Su, Brianna Robbins, Henry Nguyen, Thant Myint, Micah Yu, Surya M. Nauli, Yumiko Saito, Amal Alachkar

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

The melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) system is involved in numerous functions, including energy homeostasis, food intake, sleep, stress, mood, aggression, reward, maternal behavior, social behavior, and cognition. In rodents, MCH acts on MCHR1, a G protein-coupled receptor, which is widely expressed in the brain and abundantly localized to neuronal primary cilia. Cilia act as cells’ antennas and play crucial roles in cell signaling to detect and transduce external stimuli to regulate cell differentiation and migration. Cilia are highly dynamic in terms of their length and morphology; however, it is not known if cilia length is causally regulated by MCH system activation …