Hypothalamus in Biological News

JCI table of contents: Aug. 9, 2007

... and in the region of the brain known as the hypothalamus are lean because they eat less and move around ... were associated with decreased signaling in the hypothalamus through a protein known as PPAR-alpha. Administration of a PPAR-alpha agonist into the hypothalamus increased the amount mice lacking FAS ...

Brain background to body mass

... use stores of energy, such as fat tissue. A part of the brain called the hypothalamus controls many of our basic functions such as body temperature, hunger and ... the status quo. "Very occasionally, mutations in genes active in the hypothalamus have dramatic consequences for weight gain," explains Dr Ruth Loos, a ...

Stress puts double whammy on reproductive system, fertility

... returned to normal by the next day. Chronically stressed rats, however, were left with longer-term elevations of RFRP levels in the dorsomedial hypothalamus area of the brain, and suppression of activity in the reproductive axis - the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal hormone cascade - that is associated ...

USC researchers present diabetes findings at American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions

... vein sensors may connect to or signal the brain to respond to hypoglycemia. The symposium will take place on Sunday, June 7 (Session: Beyond the hypothalamus Other Sites Involved in Sensing and Responding to Recurrent Hypoglycemia; Peripheral vs. Central Sensors Importance of Rate of Glucose Drop). ...

What happens when we sleep

... the circadian rhythm. With Drs. Oum Hassani and Maan Gee Lee, Dr. Barbara Jones at the MNI were studying a structure in the brain called the lateral hypothalamus (LH) known to be critical for maintaining wakefulness. MCH neurons, co-distributed with Orx neurons, constitute less than 10% of the LH. Previous ...

Brain enzyme may play key role in controlling appetite and weight gain

... an almond-sized structure located deep within the brain that controls body temperature, hunger, and thirst. Specialized nerve cells in the hypothalamus sense whether the body contains adequate amounts of nutrients and stored body fat. The cells then send out signals telling other parts of the brain ...

New master switch found in the brain that regulates appetite and reproduction

... the brain of how well fed the body is. The primary hormone that performs that function is leptin, which travels through the bloodstream to the hypothalamus in the brain (the appetite center), keeping the brain aware of the body's nutritional status. "Leptin tells the brain that times are good, your ...

New study shows compounds from soy affect brain and reproductive development

... chemicals that mimic hormones during development. Specifically, the study finds that the compounds alter the sex-specific organization of the hypothalamus a brain region that is essential to the regulation of puberty and ovulation. The study also shows that the phytoestrogens could cause long-term ...

The epigenetics of increasing weight through the generations

... generation. Those in the supplemented group, however, did not." "We think DNA methylation may play an important role in the development of the hypothalamus (the region of the brain that regulates appetite)," said Waterland. "Twenty years ago, it was proposed that just as genetic mutations can cause ...

Scientists learn how food affects the brain

... has been shown to reduce memory deficits in animal models of Alzheimer's disease and brain trauma. BDNF is most abundant in the hippocampus and the hypothalamus brain areas associated with cognitive and metabolic regulation. The high consumption of curcumin in India may contribute to the low prevalence ...

U of M researchers discover gene linked to adult-onset obesity

... hypothalamus, a brain region involved in regulating food intake and energy expenditure. Wickman speculated that disruption of normal function in the hypothalamus may underlie the obesity seen in the mutant mice, but he acknowledges that more research is needed to understand where and how this gene works, and ...

Overeating and obesity triggered by lack of BDNF

... whether BDNF mediated satiety in adult animals. Our recent findings demonstrate that BDNF synthesis in the ventromedial (VMH) and dorsomedial hypothalamus (DMH) is required for normal energy balance. Additionally, because the mice examined in this study were genetically altered in adulthood, we were ...

Study identifies pathway required for normal reproductive development

... hypogonadism (IHH), a rare condition in which puberty does not take place naturally. IHH occurs when a structure in the brain called the hypothalamus fails to develop neurons that secrete gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), a major controller of the reproductive system. Several genes involved ...

American Chemical Society's Weekly PressPac -- Aug. 15, 2007

... that often occurs among aging women. In a series of animal experiments, Deborah J. Clegg and colleagues showed how estrogen receptors located in the hypothalamus serve as a master switch to control food intake, energy expenditure and body fat distribution. When these receptors are destroyed, the animals ...

Hap1 protein links circulating insulin to brain circuits that regulate feeding behavior in mice

... be published in the May 1 print edition. The hypothalamus serves as the central switching control for ... that fasting increased the level of Hap1 in the hypothalamus of the mice and that administering insulin ... and the regulation of GABA receptors in the hypothalamus in controlling eating behavior." "Scientists ...

Study by Einstein researchers could lead to a novel strategy for treating obesity

... shown that reducing levels of fatty acids in the hypothalamus causes rats to overeat and become obese. Their ... in print in the February issue.) The brain's hypothalamus keeps track of the body's nutritional status by ... Taking this information into account, the hypothalamus regulates our energy intake and metabolism. ...

How appetite-stimulating brain cells work overtime during fasting

... of T3. Now, the researchers found that support cells in the hypothalamus producing an enzyme that catalyzes active thyroid hormone production are ... decreased levels of the fat-produced hormone leptin alone signaled the hypothalamus that fat levels have fallen, leading hypothalamic neurons to activate a ...

Eat less, weigh more? Enzyme makes lean mice 'susceptible' to dietary fat

... cells to synthesize fat, which is stored. Increasing malonyl-CoA in the hypothalamus somehow tells the cells in the body to break down fats for energy and the ... and body weight is controlled. "We are beginning to understand what the hypothalamus inputs are, but unlike the liver, where nearly the whole organ is involved ...

New brain hormone puts brakes on reproduction

... an answer: Estradiol stimulates cells in the dorsomedial nucleus of the hypothalamus to produce GnIH, which appears to act directly on cells in the hypothalamus to turn off their production of GnRH. "Here, we have a novel neural ...

Animal models show that anabolic steroids flip the adolescent brain's switch for aggression

... hamsters were hostile hosts, a part of their brains called the anterior hypothalamus pumped out more of a neurotransmitter called vasopressin. By three weeks ... levels subsided in parallel with the aggressive behavior. The anterior hypothalamus regulates aggression and social behavior. Thus, vasopressin ?already ...

A gene's first 'kiss' sets off that affair known as puberty

... and Eve ?makes its sudden appearance in a region of the brain called the hypothalamus just as puberty begins, according to a study published in this week's ... Besides learning that GPR54 and KiSS-1 are expressed inside the hypothalamus of primates at the time of puberty, the researchers also found that by ...

Scientists unravel clue in cortisol production

... issue of the journal Molecular Endocrinology. Turning cholesterol into the stress hormone cortisol involves many reactions and begins when the hypothalamus sends a signal to the adrenal glands. Proteins then flood into the nucleus to bind to the DNA, creating the gene CYP 17. What happens next is well ...

Buildup of damaged DNA in cells drives aging

... also found low levels of growth hormones in the progeroid mice and ruled out the possibility that this suppression was due to problems with their hypothalamus or pituitary glands, which regulate growth hormone secretion. Furthermore, they demonstrated that if normal adult mice were exposed to a drug that ...

Insulin receptor stops progression of Alzheimer's disease

... or nearly disappeared. The agonists affected different regions of the brain, with PPAR delta producing the most striking effect in preserving the hypothalamus and temporal lobes, areas of the brain responsible for memory, learning, and behavior. In these brain regions, PPAR alpha and PPAR gamma were ...

Leptin has powerful effect on reward center in the brain

... and associated pathologies," DiLeone said. "These include obesity, drug addiction, and other impulsive behavior." Leptin's effect in the hypothalamus has been well studied, but it was not known how the hormone affected activity in the VTA, which contains dopamine neurons that are important in ...

Machinery of the 'marijuana munchies'

... is normally triggered by natural regulatory molecules, called endocannabinoids. In their studies, the researchers concentrated on the lateral hypothalamus (LH) of the brain, known to be a center of control of food intake. Their studies involved detailed electrophysiological measurements of the effects ...

Weight control protein may yield antiobesity drugs

... regulator of leptin sensitivity inside cells of the brain region known as the hypothalamus," said senior author of the study, Liangyou Rui. The hypothalamus is a key area in the central nervous system that integrates neuronal, hormonal, and nutrient-related signals to maintain body weight, he explained. ...

Endocannabinoids ?the brain's cannabis ?demonstrate novel modes of action to stress

... act on the brain to stimulate the release of endogenous cannabinoids from neurons in the hypothalamus, which act as a local messenger within the hypothalamus to shut down the neuroendocrine stress response. One explanation for this hormone feedback regulation of the stress response might be to prepare ...

Discovery clarifies role of peptide in biological clock

... "We showed that we could restore rhythms to the arrhythmic neurons and synchrony to the SCN by providing VIP once a day." The SCN is a part of the hypothalamus that can be found on the bottom of the brain just above the roof of your mouth where your optic nerves cross. There are roughly 10,000 neurons in ...