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Estradiol is a commonly prescribed estrogen treatment. Previous research has shown that sugar consumption increases in rats treated with this hormone. But according to new research, blocking opioid receptors in the body can reverse this effect. The findings will be presented today at the annual meeting of the American Physiological Society (APS) at Experimental Biology 2019 in Orlando, Florida.
Estradiol is a natural estrogen hormone and a drug commonly used in various hormonal treatments, such as menopausal hormone therapy and birth control. Previous studies conducted by this research team have shown that the replacement of estradiol by a menopausal model in the rat had led rats to consume more of a sugar solution offered.
Because the opioid system is known to contribute to excessive overconsumption of very tasty foods, the researchers decided to examine its role in the impact of estradiol on sugar consumption. The rats were badigned either to treatment with estradiol or to a control. The researchers then continuously infused rats with naltrexone, which blocks opioid receptors, or saline. In a second experiment, the research team injected naltrexone or DAMGO, a synthetic compound that stimulates the opioid system, into an area of the brain badociated with a reward (the nucleus accumbens). In the first experiment, treatment with naltrexone reversed the increase in sugar consumption related to estradiol. Injection of DAMGO stimulated sugar intake in treated and control rats, but the effect was less marked in estradiol-treated rats than in control rats . This suggests that the opioid system plays a role in increasing estrogen-induced sugar intake, but that opioid receptors in the nucleus accumbens are not likely to be directly involved in the treatment. Increase in estrogen-induced sugar intake.
Lead author Kurumi Iida noted that these results suggest that the extra sugar intake caused by estradiol "is probably induced by the opioid system". However, a potential site of action for this phenomenon remains unknown.
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