Feeding behaviour articles from across Nature Portfolio

Removal of nlr-1/CNTNAP from monoamine neurons in C. elegans reveals neuron-specific roles in foraging behaviors, including a critical role for nlr-1 in dopamine neuron morphology, synapse structure, and synapse function that resembles loss of dopamine signaling itself.

The importance of protein degradation in the ER during leptin signaling has been unclear. Here, the authors show that SEL1L-HRD1 ER-associated degradation modulates leptin signaling in POMC neurons by degrading misfolded leptin receptors in the ER.

Experiments in mice show that the perineural net has a key role in metabolic disease by controlling insulin access to neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus.

Diet-induced obesity in mice is accompanied by hypothalamic inflammation, which is shown here to result in thickened perineuronal nets in arcuate nucleus neurons, insulin resistance and metabolic disease.

Exploring the glymphatic system across neurological and metabolic diseases might help us to better define the link between obesity and neurological disorders. Recent studies have identified metabolic dysfunction as a risk factor for cognitive decline and neurological disorders through disruption of the glymphatic system.

Dopamine D1 receptors of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) can be divided into different transcriptomic subtypes, and are crucial for reward processing and regulating feeding behaviour. One subtype — the NAc SERPINB2⁺ neuron— is identified as necessary for the specific control of food intake and energy balance, and could serve as a target for addressing obesity and eating disorders.

Liu et al. found that different subgroups of GABAergic neurons in mouse basal forebrain exert opposite impacts on food consumption, highlighting the complex interaction of basal forebrain and hypothalamus for regulating homeostatic and hedonic aspects of feeding.

Li, Yang, Zhou et al. delve into the impact of a ketogenic diet on mice and humans, highlighting microbial contributions to taurine-conjugated bile acids as crucial catalysts for the metabolic benefits of this diet.