{"id":{"repo_id":"utswmed","oai_identifier":"oai:utswmed-ir.tdl.org:2152.5/10604"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/utswmed/oai:utswmed-ir.tdl.org:2152.5/10604","repository":{"repo_id":"utswmed","name":"University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center","base_url":"https://utswmed-ir.tdl.org/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Melanocortin Peptides Coordinate Metabolic and Immune Responses","abstract":"Pages 84-114 are misnumbered as pages 83-113.","abstract_html":"Pages 84-114 are misnumbered as pages 83-113.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Reynolds, Ryan P."],"institution":null,"degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Tu, Benjamin","DeBerardinis, Ralph J.","Gupta, Rana K.","Elmquist, Joel"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-06-03T19:49:53Z","date_published":"2025-06-03T19:49:53Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:52:11Z","subjects":["Inflammation","Lipopolysaccharides","alpha-MSH","Pro-Opiomelanocortin"],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["1522122312"],"render_values":[{"text":"1522122312","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2152.5/10604","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Tu, Benjamin","DeBerardinis, Ralph J.","Gupta, Rana K.","Elmquist, Joel"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Reynolds, Ryan P."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-06-03T19:49:53Z","2023-05","May 2023"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Thesis","text"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Inflammation","Lipopolysaccharides","alpha-MSH","Pro-Opiomelanocortin"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2152.5/10604","1522122312"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Pages 84-114 are misnumbered as pages 83-113.","The melanocortin system has been studied for over a century. What began from the simple observation that pituitary lysates applied to tadpoles caused their skin to darken has evolved into the most-researched pathway regulating body weight today. Through decades of serendipitous findings, brute force positional cloning studies, and modern neuroscience techniques, researchers are finally unraveling the roles of the melanocortin system in regulating metabolism. Furthermore, work from James Lipton and colleagues at UT Southwestern over 40 years ago pioneered the melanocortin immunoregulation field. Here, I discuss my recent findings that the melanocortin alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH) is a critical regulator of inflammation and thermogenesis in response to an immune challenge using a unique mouse model that cannot produce α-MSH. Next, I conduct a series of metabolic experiments to further dissect the melanocortin system in the hypothalamus. Using novel genetics tools, I investigate the role of α-MSH release from a subpopulation of hypothalamic neurons and find that this peptide is a critical autonomic regulator that controls leptin and insulin homeostasis and obesity. Together, these data underscore the importance of α-MSH in different aspects of physiology, which an active area of research for drug development that has had recent success. My findings build on this foundation and raise the possibility of expanding the therapeutic potential of the melanocortins to include acute or chronic inflammatory diseases and further our understanding of the neural mechanisms coordinating metabolism."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Melanocortin Peptides Coordinate Metabolic and Immune Responses"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Tu, Benjamin","DeBerardinis, Ralph J.","Gupta, Rana K.","Elmquist, Joel"],"dc:creator":["Reynolds, Ryan P."],"dc:date":["2025-06-03T19:49:53Z","2023-05","May 2023"],"dc:description":["Pages 84-114 are misnumbered as pages 83-113.","The melanocortin system has been studied for over a century. What began from the simple observation that pituitary lysates applied to tadpoles caused their skin to darken has evolved into the most-researched pathway regulating body weight today. Through decades of serendipitous findings, brute force positional cloning studies, and modern neuroscience techniques, researchers are finally unraveling the roles of the melanocortin system in regulating metabolism. Furthermore, work from James Lipton and colleagues at UT Southwestern over 40 years ago pioneered the melanocortin immunoregulation field. Here, I discuss my recent findings that the melanocortin alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone (α-MSH) is a critical regulator of inflammation and thermogenesis in response to an immune challenge using a unique mouse model that cannot produce α-MSH. Next, I conduct a series of metabolic experiments to further dissect the melanocortin system in the hypothalamus. Using novel genetics tools, I investigate the role of α-MSH release from a subpopulation of hypothalamic neurons and find that this peptide is a critical autonomic regulator that controls leptin and insulin homeostasis and obesity. Together, these data underscore the importance of α-MSH in different aspects of physiology, which an active area of research for drug development that has had recent success. My findings build on this foundation and raise the possibility of expanding the therapeutic potential of the melanocortins to include acute or chronic inflammatory diseases and further our understanding of the neural mechanisms coordinating metabolism."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2152.5/10604","1522122312"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:subject":["Inflammation","Lipopolysaccharides","alpha-MSH","Pro-Opiomelanocortin"],"dc:title":["Melanocortin Peptides Coordinate Metabolic and Immune Responses"],"dc:type":["Thesis","text"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:52:11Z"}