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Synaptic plasticity in neuronal circuits regulating energy balance

Nature Neuroscience volume 15, pages 1336–1342 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Maintaining energy balance is of paramount importance for metabolic health and survival. It is achieved through the coordinated regulation of neuronal circuits that control a wide range of physiological processes affecting energy intake and expenditure, such as feeding, metabolic rate, locomotor activity, arousal, growth and reproduction. Neuronal populations distributed throughout the CNS but highly enriched in the mediobasal hypothalamus, sense hormonal, nutrient and neuronal signals of systemic energy status and relay this information to secondary neurons that integrate the information and regulate distinct physiological parameters in a manner that promotes energy homeostasis. To achieve this, it is critical that neuronal circuits provide information about short-term changes in nutrient availability in the larger context of long-term energy status. For example, the same signals lead to different cellular and physiological responses if delivered under fasted versus fed conditions. Thus, there is a clear need to have mechanisms that rapidly and reversibly adjust responsiveness of hypothalamic circuits to acute changes in nutrient availability.

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Figure 1: Changes in the balance between the firing rates of POMC and NPY-AgRP neurons in response to the nutrient and hormonal environment are thought to be important for regulating feeding behavior and body weight.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to C.-X. Yi for help generating Figure 1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Molecular Genetics, and Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA

    Lori M Zeltser

  2. Metabolic Diseases Institute, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

    Randy J Seeley

  3. Helmholtz Zentrum München and Division of Metabolic Diseases, Department of Medicine, Institute for Diabetes and Obesity, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Matthias H Tschöp

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Zeltser, L., Seeley, R. & Tschöp, M. Synaptic plasticity in neuronal circuits regulating energy balance. Nat Neurosci 15, 1336–1342 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.3219

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