ArticleScience translational medicine2021
The melanocortin-3 receptor is a pharmacological target for the regulation of anorexia.
Article in Science translational medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 45 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
45 citing papers in PubMed, 57 citations in OpenAlex.
- The causes of cachexia: key signals and the brain.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2026Review
- Recent developments in GPCR signalling in appetite regulation.Bioscience reports · 2026Review
- Sex-differential associations of MC3R p.F45S with human metabolic profile.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Dual activation of MC3R and MC4R drives weight loss and reduces food intake in male primates with obesity.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Melanocortin 3 Receptors Do Not Specifically Localize to Primary Cilia in Cultured Human and Rodent Neurons.Cell biochemistry and function · 2026Article
- Comprehensive insights into emerging advances in the Neurobiology of anorexia.Journal of advanced research · 2026Review
- Examining a central mechanism whereby undernutrition inhibits GnRH secretion via KNDy neurons.The Journal of reproduction and development · 2026Review
- The accessory protein MRAP2 directly interacts with melanocortin-3 receptor to enhance signaling.Science signaling · 2025Article
- Article
- Providing alternative fuel for the brain in anorexia nervosa: a review of the literature on ketones and their effects on metabolism and the brain.Translational psychiatry · 2025Review
- Illuminating the Druggable Human Proteome with an AI Protein Profiling Platform.Research square · 2025Article
- Illuminating the Druggable Human Proteome with an AI Protein Profiling Platform.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Kisspeptin and neurokinin B: roles in reproductive health.Physiological reviews · 2025Review
- Article
- An improved synthesis of Compound 11, a unique bicyclic melanocortin-3 antagonist.Peptide science (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2025Article
- GPCRs in hypothalamic neurons and their roles in controlling food intake and metabolism.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2025Review
- Medial hypothalamic MC3R signalling regulates energy rheostasis in adult mice.The Journal of physiology · 2025Article
- Fasting-induced activity changes in MC3R neurons of the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus.Life science alliance · 2024Article
- Subthreshold activation of the melanocortin system causes generalized sensitization to anorectic agents in mice.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2024Article
- Hypothalamic hormone deficiency enables physiological anorexia in ground squirrels during hibernation.Nature communications · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Ablation of hypothalamic AgRP (Agouti-related protein) neurons is known to lead to fatal anorexia, whereas their activation stimulates voracious feeding and suppresses other motivational states including fear and anxiety. Despite the critical role of AgRP neurons in bidirectionally controlling feeding, there are currently no therapeutics available specifically targeting this circuitry. The melanocortin-3 receptor (MC3R) is expressed in multiple brain regions and exhibits sexual dimorphism of expression in some of those regions in both mice and humans. MC3R deletion produced multiple forms of sexually dimorphic anorexia that resembled aspects of human anorexia nervosa. However, there was no sexual dimorphism in the expression of MC3R in AgRP neurons, 97% of which expressed MC3R. Chemogenetic manipulation of arcuate MC3R neurons and pharmacologic manipulation of MC3R each exerted potent bidirectional regulation over feeding behavior in male and female mice, whereas global ablation of MC3R-expressing cells produced fatal anorexia. Pharmacological effects of MC3R compounds on feeding were dependent on intact AgRP circuitry in the mice. Thus, the dominant effect of MC3R appears to be the regulation of the AgRP circuitry in both male and female mice, with sexually dimorphic sites playing specialized and subordinate roles in feeding behavior. Therefore, MC3R is a potential therapeutic target for disorders characterized by anorexia, as well as a potential target for weight loss therapeutics.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.