Je. Morley et Jf. Flood, EFFECT OF COMPETITIVE ANTAGONISM OF NO SYNTHETASE ON WEIGHT AND FOOD-INTAKE IN OBESE AND DIABETIC MICE, The American journal of physiology, 266(1), 1994, pp. 180000164-180000168
Recent studies have suggested a role for nitric oxide (NO) in the regu
lation of food intake. The present studies were undertaken to examine
the effects of the administration of a nitric oxide synthetase inhibit
or, N-G-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), on food intake and wei
ght loss. Two genetically obese mice, the ob/ob and db/db strains, and
their lean heterozygote littermate controls, ob/c and db/c, served as
subjects. In the first experiment, we demonstrated that L-NAME (100 m
u g/kg) given twice over a feeding period of 7 h/day produced a small
but significant weight loss in ob/ob mice but not in their lean-genoty
pe controls (P < 0.05). In the second experiment, a higher dose of L-N
AME (100 mg/kg), given twice daily, produced a marked effect on body w
eight, with the ob/ob mice losing similar to 10% of their body weight
in 9 days. The ob/c mice showed a lesser decrease in body weight. Food
intake was decreased on all 9 days in the ob/ob mice (P < 0.01). A sm
all decrease in body weight and food intake was seen in db/db and db/c
mice receiving L-NAME. These studies provide further evidence for a r
ole of nitric oxide in the modulation of food intake and weight gain.