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The dorsal vagal complex as a site for cocaine- and
amphetamine-regulated transcript peptide to suppress
gastric emptying
Ulrika Smedh and Timothy H. Moran

Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 291:R124-R130, 2006. First published 2 February 2006;
doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00234.2004
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Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 291: R124 –R130, 2006.
First published February2, 2006; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00234.2004.

The dorsal vagal complex as a site for cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated
transcript peptide to suppress gastric emptying
Ulrika Smedh and Timothy H. Moran
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
Submitted 7 April 2004; accepted in final form 17 January 2006

brain stem;gastric acidity; rat; vagus; corticotropin-releasing factor
COCAINE- AND AMPHETAMINE-REGULATED

transcription (CART)
and CART-derived peptides (CARTp) are widely distributed in
the brain and present in structures of the brain stem that are
involved in integration of signals from the gastrointestinal
tract, including the nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS; see Refs.
2, 4, 12). CARTp is alsofound in the vagus nerve (2), and
CART and CARTp are present in the nodose ganglion (2).
Recently, CARTp administered in the cisterna magna (ic) was
shown to inhibit gastric acid secretion and gastric emptying in
rats (17). In addition, injection of a low dose of CARTp in the
fourth ventricle (fourth icv) dose dependently suppressed gastric emptying of glucose. This suppression depended uponcorticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) mediation, since coadministration of the CRF antagonist -helical CRF-(9 – 41) ( -CRF)
blocked the effects of CARTp on gastric emptying (23).
Recently, local injection of CARTp in the dorsal vagal complex (DVC) was shown not to affect food intake (27). However, there appears to be separate controls for dorsal hindbrain,
CARTp-induced suppression of food intake,and gastric emptying, since suppression of food intake could not be blocked by
-CRF pretreatment (23). Here, we raise the hypothesis that

Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: U. Smedh, Dept.
of Surgery, Lund Univ. Hospital, SE-221 85 Lund, Sweden (e-mail:
ulrika.smedh@med.lu.se).
R124

the DVC is a target for CARTp-induced effects on gastric
emptying.
Like CARTp, CRFinhibits food intake (13, 16, 26) and
gastric functions after intraventricular delivery. For example,
CRF suppresses gastric emptying after lateral intracerebroventricular injection (14), intracerebral injection (25), and fourth
ventricle intracerebroventricular administration (20). In addition, CRF injected intracerebroventricularly inhibits gastric
acid secretion (5, 14). The CRF-induced...