Abstract #0227

Chaudhri O, Parkinson J, Kuo Y, Bloom S, Bell J, So P, Small C, Herlihy A

Obesity is a major problem across the world. The discovery of appetite-regulating neuropeptides is providing new insights into the mechanisms associated with appetite and may lead to new pharmacological targets for treatment. MEMRI has been proposed to delineate neuronal connectivity in animals. In this study we have used MEMRI to determine the neuronal activations associated with appetite regulations and have also determined the effect of manganese on neuronal activation by c-fos expression. The results from this study suggest that MEMRI can be used to establish the site, degree and timing of neuronal activity associated appetite regulations without affecting c-fos expression.