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Neural circuits underlying thirst and fluid homeostasis

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 18, pages 459–469 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

Thirst motivates animals to find and consume water. More than 40 years ago, a set of interconnected brain structures known as the lamina terminalis was shown to govern thirst. However, owing to the anatomical complexity of these brain regions, the structure and dynamics of their underlying neural circuitry have remained obscure. Recently, the emergence of new tools for neural recording and manipulation has reinvigorated the study of this circuit and prompted re-examination of longstanding questions about the neural origins of thirst. Here, we review these advances, discuss what they teach us about the control of drinking behaviour and outline the key questions that remain unanswered.

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Figure 1: Structure of the neural circuits underlying thirst and fluid homeostasis in mammals.
Figure 2: Anticipatory and homeostatic regulation of the thirst circuit.
Figure 3: The thirst circuit monitors and controls feeding behaviour.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank members of the Knight laboratory for comments and discussion. C.A.Z. acknowledges support from the Genentech Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship, the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) Discovery Fellowship and the US National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (1144247). D.E.L. acknowledges support from the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (ARCS) Foundation Scholarship, the UCSF Discovery Fellowship and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) (F31-HL131463). Z.A.K. is a New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF)–Robertson Investigator. Z.A.K. acknowledges support from the NYSCF, the American Diabetes Association Pathway Program, the Rita Allen Foundation, the McKnight Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, the Esther A. & Joseph Klingenstein Foundation, the Program for Breakthrough Biological Research and the UCSF Diabetes and Endocrinology Research Center (P30-DK06372) and Nutrition and Obesity Research Center (P30-DK098722). This work was supported by an NIH Director's New Innovator Award (DP2-DK109533), R01-NS094781 and R01-DK106399.

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  1. Department of Physiology, the Kavli Institute for Fundamental Neuroscience and the Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, 94158, California, USA

    Christopher A. Zimmerman, David E. Leib & Zachary A. Knight

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Zimmerman, C., Leib, D. & Knight, Z. Neural circuits underlying thirst and fluid homeostasis. Nat Rev Neurosci 18, 459–469 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2017.71

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