Diurnal variation of the melanin- concentrating hormone in the hypothalamus

Abstract

Melanin- concentrating hormone (MCH) is a cyclic anabolic 19-amino acid polypeptide produced in the zona incerta and in the lateral hypothalamus (LH). MCH has been implicated with various physiological functions, including feeding and energy expenditure as well as the sleep-wake cycle. These physiological functions are known to have diurnal variations, even though it was previously shown that the Pmch (pro melanin- concentrating hormone) gene shows no circadian expression pattern (Dias Abdo Agamme et al., 2015), we investigated whether MCH itself had a circadian concentration difference in the hypothalamus of mice.