Sex-Dimorphic Effects of Hypoglycemia on Metabolic Sensor mRNA Expression in Ventromedial Hypothalamic Nucleus-Dorsomedial Division (VMNdm) Growth Hormone-Releasing Hormone Neurons

Growth hormone-releasing hormone (Ghrh) neurons in the dorsomedial ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMNdm) express the metabolic transcription factor steroidogenic factor-1 and hypoglycemia-sensitive neurochemicals of diverse chemical structures, transmission modes, and temporal signaling profiles. Ghrh imposes neuromodulatory control of coexpressed transmitters. Multiple metabolic sensory mechanisms are employed in the brain, including screening of the critical nutrient glucose or the energy currency ATP. Here, combinatory laser-catapult-microdissection/single-cell multiplex qPCR tools were used to investigate whether these neurons possess molecular machinery for monitoring cellular metabolic status and if these biomarkers exhibit sex-specific sensitivity to insulin-induced hypoglycemia. Data show that hypoglycemia up- (male) or downregulated (female) Ghrh neuron glucokinase (Gck) mRNA; Ghrh gene silencing decreased baseline and hypoglycemic patterns of Gck gene expression in each sex. Ghrh neuron glucokinase regulatory protein (Gckr) transcript levels were respectively diminished or augmented in hypoglycemic male vs female rats; this mRNA profile was decreased by Ghrh siRNA in both sexes. Gene transcripts encoding catalytic alpha subunits of the energy monitor 5-AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), i.e., Prkaa1 and 2, were increased by hypoglycemia in males, yet only the former mRNA was hypoglycemia-sensitive in females. Ghrh siRNA downregulated baseline and hypoglycemia-associated Prkaa subunit mRNAs in males but elicited divergent changes in Prkaa2 transcripts in eu- vs hypoglycemic females. Results provide unique evidence that VMNdm Ghrh neurons express the characterized metabolic sensor biomarkers glucokinase and AMPK and that the corresponding gene profiles exhibit distinctive sex-dimorphic transcriptional responses to hypoglycemia. Data further document Ghrh neuromodulation of baseline and hypoglycemic transcription patterns of these metabolic gene profiles.