Role of dorsal vagal motor nucleus orexin-receptor-1 in glycemic responses to acute versus repeated insulin administration

The potent orexigenic neuropeptide, orexin-A (ORX-A), acts at multiple sites within the central neuroaxis to control autonomic responses to energy imbalance, including the dorsal vagal motor nucleus (DMV), where it regulates pancreatic efferent nerve firing. Recent evidence that recurrent insulin-induced hypoglycemia (RIIH) attenuates lateral hypothalamic ORX-A-ergic neuronal transcriptional activation and prepro-orexin gene expression suggests that this phenotype undergoes functional adaptation to repeated glucoprivation. We examined the hypothesis that RIIH-associated patterns of ORX-A neurotransmission and/or orexin-receptor-1 (OR-1) expression within the DMV may be correlated with exacerbated hypoglycemic and impaired pancreatic counterregulatory responses to repeated insulin administration. Male rats were pretreated by bilateral intra-DMV infusion of the OR-1 antagonist, SB-334867, or vehicle prior to s.c. injection of Humulin NPH (NPH), or diluent alone. Other animals were injected with one or four doses of NPH, on as many days, or diluent alone, and pretreated by bilateral intra-DMV administration of graded doses of ORX-A or vehicle on the final day of the study. Effects of acute versus repeated insulin administration on ORX-A and OR-1 protein levels in the microdissected dorsal vagal complex (DVC) were evaluated by radioimmunoassay and Western blot analyses, respectively. SB-334867 treatment prior to acute NPH administration decreased plasma glucose and suppressed peak glucagon secretion, whereas exogenous ORX-A administration prior to RIIH did not reverse amplified patterns of hypoglycemia. RIIH did not alter intra-DVC ORX-A tissue concentrations, but diminished OR-1 levels in that site. These results show that DMV OR-1 function is critical for optimal glucagon secretory responsiveness to acute hypoglycemia, and that RIIH-associated downregulation of receptor expression in that brain site may contribute to impaired restoration of euglycemia. The current data provide unique evidence that ORX-A acts via OR-1-dependent mechanisms within DMV to regulate glucagon counterregulatory function during hypoglycemia, and that decreased receptor-mediated signaling during RIIH may underlie characteristic intensification of hypoglycemia.