Hypothalamus articles within Nature

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    In response to acute thermal challenge, thermosensing glutamatergic neurons of the parabrachial nucleus in mouse brain activate tanycytes, which reduce the excitability of Flt1-expressing dopamine and agouti-related peptide-containing neurons, thus suppressing appetite.

    • Marco Benevento
    • , Alán Alpár
    •  & Tibor Harkany

  • Article |

    Fasting-activated hypothalamic AgRP-expressing neurons trigger fasting-induced hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis activation through projections to the paraventricular hypothalamus, where they activate CRH neurons by presynaptically inhibiting the terminals of tonically active GABAergic afferents from the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis.

    • Amelia M. Douglass
    • , Jon M. Resch
    •  & Bradford B. Lowell

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Distinct dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area respond to physiological fluid balance and nutrient cues at specific stages of ingestion, driving learning about the physiological effects of ingestion.

    • James C. R. Grove
    • , Lindsay A. Gray
    •  & Zachary A. Knight

  • Article |

    In response to food cues, a hypothalamic circuit in the mouse brain transiently inhibits neurons expressing agouti-related peptide, and this promotes learning of cue-initiated food-seeking tasks.

    • Janet Berrios
    • , Chia Li
    •  & Bradford B. Lowell

  • Article |

    A specific neuronal population in the medial and lateral preoptic area of the hypothalamus regulates entry into torpor in mice.

    • Sinisa Hrvatin
    • , Senmiao Sun
    •  & Michael E. Greenberg

  • Letter |

    Drinking behaviour in mice is regulated by a signal derived from the water and salt content of the gastrointestinal tract that is transmitted to forebrain neurons that control thirst via the vagus nerve.

    • Christopher A. Zimmerman
    • , Erica L. Huey
    •  & Zachary A. Knight

  • Article |

    A combination of microprism-based cellular imaging to monitor insular cortex visual cue responses in behaving mice across hunger states with circuit mapping and manipulations reveals a neural basis for state-specific biased processing of motivationally relevant cues.

    • Yoav Livneh
    • , Rohan N. Ramesh
    •  & Mark L. Andermann

  • Article |

    Osteoblast-derived LCN2 activates the melanocortin 4 receptor in neurons of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus to suppress appetite, regulates insulin secretion and increases insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance.

    • Ioanna Mosialou
    • , Steven Shikhel
    •  & Stavroula Kousteni

  • Letter |

    Feedback from the oral cavity to thirst-promoting neurons in the subfornical organ (SFO) during eating and drinking is integrated with information about blood composition, providing a prediction of how oral consumption will affect fluid balance and leading to changes in behaviour.

    • Christopher A. Zimmerman
    • , Yen-Chu Lin
    •  & Zachary A. Knight

  • Letter |

    Activation of glucose-sensing neurons in the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus using radio waves or magnetic fields remotely and non-invasively in vivo increases plasma glucose and glucagon, and suppresses plasma insulin; conversely, remote inhibition of glucose-sensing neurons decreased blood glucose and increased plasma insulin.

    • Sarah A. Stanley
    • , Leah Kelly
    •  & Jeffrey M. Friedman

  • Article |

    Cell-type-specific electrical activity manipulations and deep-brain imaging in mice of neuronal populations associated with homeostasis of nutrient or fluid intake reveals that learning is conditioned by a negative-valence signal from the hunger-mediating AGRP neurons and also from the thirst-mediating neurons in the subfornical organ.

    • J. Nicholas Betley
    • , Shengjin Xu
    •  & Scott M. Sternson

  • Article |

    Cannabinoid-induced feeding signals are shown to enhance pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neuronal activity in mice, causing an enhancement of β-endorphin release, which is crucial in causing this cannabinoid-induced response; these results uncover an overlooked role of hypothalamic POMC neurons in the promotion of feeding by cannabinoids.

    • Marco Koch
    • , Luis Varela
    •  & Tamas L. Horvath

  • Letter |

    α-MSH and AgRP, two hypothalamus-derived peptides with opposing actions on the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R), modulate neurons driving feeding behaviour; although previous downstream mechanisms of cellular modulation by these peptides have been determined, here α-MSH and AgRP are shown to regulate neural activity by coupling MC4R to Kir7.1 potassium channels and closing or opening them, respectively.

    • Masoud Ghamari-Langroudi
    • , Gregory J. Digby
    •  & Roger D. Cone

  • Letter |

    The AgRP-expressing neurons in the arcuate nucleus drive food-seeking behaviours during caloric restriction; a mouse study of monosynaptic retrograde rabies spread and optogenetic circuit mapping reveals that these neurons are activated by input from hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus cells and their activation or inhibition can modulate feeding behaviour.

    • Michael J. Krashes
    • , Bhavik P. Shah
    •  & Bradford B. Lowell

  • Article |

    Certain regions of the hypothalamus are important in aggression, but until recently, it has been difficult to specifically stimulate specific cell types within a mixed population of cells. Here, optogenetics is used to solve this specificity problem, finding that optogenetic stimulation of a subdivision within the ventromedial hypothalamus can elicit inappropriate attack behaviours in mice, but electrical stimulation does not produce the same result. Additional analysis of genetic and electrophysiological activity revealed overlapping neuronal subpopulations involved in fighting and mating, with potential competition between these behaviours, as neurons activated during aggression are inhibited during mating.

    • Dayu Lin
    • , Maureen P. Boyle
    •  & David J. Anderson

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