Central Administration of Agouti-Related Peptide Increases Food Intake in Japanese Quail

Abstract

Agouti-related peptide is a 132-amino acid peptide associated with stimulating food intake in birds and mammals. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of AgRP in seven-day old Japanese quail. In Experiment 1, we tested 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 nmol AgRP and found no effect on food or water intake over a threehour period. In Experiment 2, we tested 0.25, 0.5 and 1.0 nmol AgRP and found no effect on food or water intake over 24 hours. In Experiment 3, we tested 0.0625 and 0.125 nmol AgRP and found no effect on food intake over a 24-hour duration, but found an increase in water intake 900 minutes following injection. In Experiment 4, we found an increase in food and water intake 900 minutes following injection in quail which received 1.5, but not 3.0, nmol AgRP. In Experiment 5, we found that AgRP had no effect on behaviors other than food intake. These results suggest that AgRP might have a stimulatory effect on food intake in Japanese quail.