小柯机器人

新加坡国立大学Yu Fu、Hasan Mohammad等研究人员合作发现一条由环境背景驱动的小鼠过度进食神经回路。该研究于2021年6月24日在线发表于国际一流学术期刊《自然—神经科学》。

研究人员在小鼠下丘脑结节核中确定了一群生长抑素（^TNSST）神经元，这些神经元优先被可口的食物激活。^TNSST神经元的激活使环境能够驱动饱食小鼠的非稳态进食，并且需要来自海马下托的输入。将环境与可口的食物搭配可以极大地增强海马下托神经元和^TNSST神经元之间的突触传递，并驱动非稳态进食，这可以通过抑制^TNSST神经元或海马下托神经元而不是其他主要的食欲神经元来选择性抑制。

这些结果揭示了可口的食物如何通过特定的下丘脑回路使环境背景能够驱动非稳态进食。

据了解，尽管有显著的遗传影响，但肥胖主要是由生理、认知和环境因素相互作用引起的食物过度消费造成的。在肥胖患者中，饮食更多地由外部线索而非内部生理需求决定。然而，环境背景如何驱动非稳态饮食是难以捉摸的。

附：英文原文

Title: A neural circuit for excessive feeding driven by environmental context in mice

Author: Hasan Mohammad, Esra Senol, Martin Graf, Chun-Yao Lee, Qin Li, Qing Liu, Xin Yi Yeo, Menghan Wang, Achilleas Laskaratos, Fuqiang Xu, Sarah Xinwei Luo, Sangyong Jung, George J. Augustine, Yu Fu

Issue&Volume: 2021-06-24

Abstract: Despite notable genetic influences, obesity mainly results from the overconsumption of food, which arises from the interplay of physiological, cognitive and environmental factors. In patients with obesity, eating is determined more by external cues than by internal physiological needs. However, how environmental context drives non-homeostatic feeding is elusive. Here, we identify a population of somatostatin (TNSST) neurons in the mouse hypothalamic tuberal nucleus that are preferentially activated by palatable food. Activation of TNSST neurons enabled a context to drive non-homeostatic feeding in sated mice and required inputs from the subiculum. Pairing a context with palatable food greatly potentiated synaptic transmission between the subiculum and TNSST neurons and drove non-homeostatic feeding that could be selectively suppressed by inhibiting TNSST neurons or the subiculum but not other major orexigenic neurons. These results reveal how palatable food, through a specific hypothalamic circuit, empowers environmental context to drive non-homeostatic feeding. Tuberal nucleus SST+ neurons respond to palatable food. The activity of these SST neurons together with their plastic inputs from the ventral subiculum play critical roles in contextually conditioned feeding.

DOI: 10.1038/s41593-021-00875-9

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-021-00875-9

Nature Neuroscience：《自然—神经科学》，创刊于1998年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团，最新IF：28.771
官方网址：https://www.nature.com/neuro/
投稿链接：https://mts-nn.nature.com/cgi-bin/main.plex