The neuromodulatory effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) on appetite regulation centre peptide gene activity in the sheep hypothalamus have not been examined yet. The aim of this study was to determine whether BDNF participates in modulation of neuropeptide Y (npy), agouti-related peptide (agrp), cocaine and amphetamine regulated transcript (cart), and proopiomelanocortin (pomc) mRNA expression and selected microRNAs in the sheep hypothalamic arcuate (ARC) nucleus. Animals (Polish Merino sheep, n=24) were divided into three groups. The control group received a central infusion of Ringer-Locke solution (480 µl/day) whereas the experimental groups were treated with BDNF in two doses: 10 or 60 μg/480 µl/day. All sheep received four intracerebroventricular infusions (performed from 08:40 a.m. to 01:30 p.m.; infusion scheme: 4 x 50 min infusions with 30 min intervals between them) on each of three consecutive days. Immediately after the last infusion, the sheep were slaughtered, and selected structures of the hypothalamus were frozen for further real-time qPCR analysis. Central infusion of BDNF evoked dose-dependent changes in npy, agrp, cart, pomc and peptidylglicine alpha-amidating monooxygenase (pam) mRNA expression in the sheep ARC nucleus. An increase in npy, agrp and pomc mRNA expression but also a decrease in cart mRNA expression in the ARC nucleus were detected. Moreover, a decrease in pam (gene encoding an enzyme that converts POMC into α-MSH) mRNA expression, was also noted. Furthermore, after central BDNF administration, changes in miRNA-33a-5p, miRNA-33b-5p, miRNA-377-3p, miRNA-214-3p, miRNA-485 and miRNA-488 expression were observed. Based on the presented results, it can be concluded that BDNF may affect the appetite regulating centre activity through modulation of npy, agrp, cart, pomc and pam mRNA expression in the ARC nucleus. It was also revealed that BDNF modulates miRNA expression in the sheep ARC nucleus.
