How mechanisms that regulate energy balance are integrated with environmental cues such as food location is poorly understood. Dysfunction of the hippocampus, a structure important for episodic memory and encoding spatial location, can alter feeding behaviour. Here, the presence of food triggered the activation of neurons in the mouse lateral entorhinal cortex, which in turn activated dopamine D2 receptor-expressing neurons in the hippocampus (hD2R neurons). Optogenetic activation of hD2R neurons projecting to the septal area disrupted the encoding of food location memory and decreased food intake.
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Azevedo, E. P. et al. A role of Drd2 hippocampal neurons in context-dependent food intake. Neuron https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2019.03.011 (2019)
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Lewis, S. Where to eat?. Nat Rev Neurosci 20, 317 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-019-0171-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-019-0171-z