Optogenetic activation of a distinct, inhibitory pathway that connects the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis with the lateral hypothalamus leads to voracious eating in mice. This study adds yet another piece to the brain-feeding-circuit puzzle and makes use of a functional circuit-mapping technique that enables interrogation of neuronal connectivity in an unprecedented way.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Jennings, J. H., Rizzi, G., Stamatakis, A. M., Ung, R. L. & Stuber, G. D. The inhibitory circuit architecture of the lateral hypothalamus orchestrates feeding. Science 341, 1517–1521 (2013).
Teitelbaum, P. & Epstein, A. N. The lateral hypothalamic syndrome: recovery of feeding and drinking after lateral hypothalamic lesions. Psychol. Rev. 69, 74–90 (1962).
Delgado, J. M. & Anand, B. K. Increase of food intake induced by electrical stimulation of the lateral hypothalamus. Am. J. Physiol. 172, 162–168 (1953).
Berthoud, H. R. Metabolic and hedonic drives in the neural control of appetite: who is the boss? Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 21, 888–896 (2011).
Saper, C. B., Chou, T. C. & Elmquist, J. K. The need to feed: homeostatic and hedonic control of eating. Neuron 36, 199–211 (2002).
Sternson, S. M. Hypothalamic survival circuits: blueprints for purposive behaviors. Neuron 77, 810–824 (2013).
Yamanaka, A. et al. Hypothalamic orexin neurons regulate arousal according to energy balance in mice. Neuron 38, 701–713 (2003).
Petrovich, G. D. & Gallagher, M. Control of food consumption by learned cues: a forebrain-hypothalamic network. Physiol. Behav. 91, 397–403 (2007).
Kim, S. Y. et al. Diverging neural pathways assemble a behavioural state from separable features in anxiety. Nature 496, 219–223 (2013).
Aponte, Y., Atasoy, D. & Sternson, S. M. AGRP neurons are sufficient to orchestrate feeding behavior rapidly and without training. Nat. Neurosci. 14, 351–355 (2011).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
PowerPoint slides
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hess, M., Brüning, J. The need to eat—overruling the homeostatic control of feeding. Nat Rev Endocrinol 10, 5–6 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2013.235
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrendo.2013.235
