In response to nutrient stimuli, the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH) drives multiple neuroendocrine and behavioral mechanisms to regulate energy balance. While central leucine reduces food intake and body weight, the specific neuroanatomical sites of leucine sensing, downstream neural substrates, and neurochemical effectors involved in this regulation remain largely unknown. Here we demonstrate t...

Background: Feeding behavior is regulated by a complex network which interacts via diverse signals from central and peripheral tissues. It is known dopaminergic and glutamatergic systems have crucial role on food intake regulation but scarce reports exist on their interaction in appetite regulation in broilers. OBJECTIVES: The present study was designed to examine the role of glutamatergic syst...

MKR mice, lacking insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) signaling in skeletal muscle, are lean yet hyperlipidemic, hyperinsulinemic, and hyperglycemic, with severe insulin resistance and elevated hepatic and skeletal muscle levels of triglycerides. We have previously shown that chronic peripheral administration of the adipokine leptin improves hepatic insulin sensitivity in these mice ...

Energy homeostasis and fuel metabolism undergo significant modifications in the course of ageing. During the second half of life many humans increase their body mass and develop glucose intolerance that may lead to obesity and type 2 diabetes. However, many old people suffer from being underweight, and this "anorexia of elderly" may seriously compromise their health under certain circumstances....

NeuromedinU is a potent regulator of food intake and activity in mammals. In Drosophila, neurons producing the homologous neuropeptide hugin regulate feeding and locomotion in a similar manner. Here, we use EM-based reconstruction to generate the entire connectome of hugin-producing neurons in the Drosophila larval CNS. We demonstrate that hugin neurons use synaptic transmission in addition to ...

Psychological influences on the childhood diet are addressed. The focus is on factors that influence the formation of children’s food preferences. Evidence for links among food preferences, dietary intake and children’s adiposity is presented, with an emphasis on dietary fat. Few food and flavor preferences are innate; most are learned via experience with food and eating and involve associative...

Marijuana has been used for medicinal and recreational purposes for thousands of years. Many people think of marijuana in the context of an illegal drug. Because of the antimarijuana attitude, research with cannabinoids was neglected for a long time. Although this substance is related to social problems, scientists are interested in its action and possible medicinal properties. Since the identi...

Obesity is a global health issue that people outside the field may have outdated perspectives on. Research has shown us that many factors beyond keeping a balance between energy intake and expenditure, regulates weight gain; but there is still a lot left to understand. Ruth Harris gives us a comprehensive look at two factors that are related to this broad topic: appetite and food intake. This b...

Centrally acting oxytocin (OT) is known to terminate food consumption in response to excessive stomach distension, increase in salt loading, and presence of toxins. Hypothalamic-hindbrain OT pathways facilitate these aspects of OT-induced hypophagia. However, recent discoveries have implicated OT in modifications of feeding via reward circuits: OT has been found to differentially affect consump...