Hypothalamus in Medical News

Action of ghrelin hormone increases appetite and favors accumulation of abdominal fat

... have discovered that, besides stimulating the hypothalamus to generate appetite, ghrelin also acts on the ... that intervene in the control of appetite in the hypothalamus and, at the same time, can act on other organs, ... should block the action of ghrelin both on the hypothalamus and on the accumulation of abdominal fat. At ...

JCI online early table of contents: July 10, 2008

... provided insight into a molecular pathway in the hypothalamus that contributes to the development of insulin ... The importance of SK6 activation in the hypothalamus in suppressing the ability of insulin to prevent ... it was shown that enforced SK6 activation in the hypothalamus had the same effects as feeding rats a high-fat ...

Deep brain stimulation may improve memory

... a variety of conditions. For example, DBS of the hypothalamus has been used to treat cluster headaches and ... potential appetite suppressant sites in the hypothalamus by stimulating electrode contacts that had been ... readily induced the memories were located in the hypothalamus and estimated to be close to the fornix, an ...

Deep Brain Stimulation May Improve Recall

... memory, suggests a Canadian study that found that DBS of the brain's hypothalamus unexpectedly prompted detailed memories in a patient. DBS -- which ... researchers also found that three weeks of continuous stimulation of the hypothalamus led to significant improvements in the patient's results on two learning ...

Study provides documentation that tumor 'stem-like cells' exist in benign tumors

... clues about several types of stem cells. The pituitary gland, situated at the base of the brain behind the nose, is stimulated by hormones from the hypothalamus gland to produce a variety of hormones that control other glands throughout the body. About half of all pituitary adenomas which arise from ...

Cancer survivors at greater risk of birth complications; special monitoring needed

... to the deleterious effects of abdominal radiotherapy on reproductive function, radiotherapy to the head can also cause problems by causing the hypothalamus to reduce the production of follicle stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone, both important in promoting ovulation. "We believe that it is ...

Making Obese Mice Slim, Without Diet or Exercise

... became morbidly obese and diabetic. When researchers added leptin receptors to a particular type of neuron (pro-opiomelanocortin neurons) in the hypothalamus of the mice's brains, their blood glucose levels dropped to normal. The mice, which had previously lain around all day, became more active. They ...

Study further expands understanding of leptin's role in brain neurocircuitry

... role in energy homeostasis through its effects on the central nervous system. Over the years, investigators have pinpointed a region of the brain's hypothalamus known as the arcuate nucleus (ARC) as one key area where leptin exerts its influence, and within the ARC, they have identified two types of ...

Jet Lag Upsets Brain's Internal Clocks

... team found that jet lag upsets two separate, but linked, groups of neurons in a brain structure called the suprachiasmatic nucleus, below the hypothalamus at the base of the brain. One group of neurons (ventral) is synchronized with deep sleep that results from physical fatigue, and the other group ...

Schering-Plough Announces European Submission of Fertility Medicine Corifollitropin Alfa

... to follitropin beta or any of the other ingredients of PUREGON have a tumour of the ovary, breast, uterus, testis, pituitary gland or hypothalamus are pregnant or breast-feeding have heavy or irregular vaginal bleeding where the cause is not known suffer from primary ...

Experimental Weight-Loss Pill Passes Early Test

... Behan said. "The challenge was to design a compound that was purely selective for the receptor involved, namely the 2c receptor [located in the hypothalamus region of the brain and involved in weight loss] and avoiding the 2b receptor [located in the heart]," Behan said. The result was lorcaserin, ...

Scientists identify new gene responsible for puberty disorders

... impaired the gene's function," Dr. Layman says. Typically, puberty begins around age 10 in boys and age 8 or 9 in girls. It starts when the hypothalamus in the brain releases more gonadotropin releasing hormone, or GnRH, which stimulates the pituitary gland to make puberty-related hormones. This ...

Scientists Create Mice Resistant to Obesity

... GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid). They developed transgenic, or mutant, mice that lacked the ability to release GABA in a subset of brain cells in the hypothalamus -- the brain region that controls processes such as hunger, thirst and body temperature. On a normal diet, the normal and mutant mice weighed ...

Zebrafish enable scientists to study the migration of neurons that enable sexual maturity

... neuroendocrinologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. Boys typically begin puberty by age 10 or 11 and girls by age 8 or 9, when the hypothalamus in the brain begins releasing more gonadotropin releasing hormone, or GnRH, Dr. Layman explains. GnRH stimulates the pituitary gland to make follicle ...

'Food Clock' May Override Master Sleep Clock in Times of Duress

... May 23 issue of Science . They noted that for animals and humans alike, the body's main clock is centered among a group of cells in the brain's hypothalamus region. Referred to as the "suprachiasmatic nucleus", this circadian clock is triggered by visual cues gleaned from the light-dark cycle. Such ...

Stress hormone impacts memory, learning in diabetic rodents

... and cognitive health. Cortisol production is controlled by the hypothalamic-pituitary axis (HPA), a hormone-producing system involving the hypothalamus and pituitary gland in the brain and the adrenal gland located near the kidney. People with poorly controlled diabetes often have an overactive HPA ...

Born to Be Obese?

... examined neural circuits emanating from the appetite, hunger and body-weight control center of the brain -- the so-called arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus (ARH) -- in a series of rats bred to be either prone to, or resistant to, obesity. The team found fewer neural connections projecting from the ARH ...

Obesity research boosted by watching hunger in the brain

... full they feel, or watching how much food is eaten, rather than using more objective measures. Scientists had already identified the part of the hypothalamus area of the brain which regulates appetite. In the new study, the researchers discovered that they could see the neurons there firing if they used a ...

Low Doses of Red Wine Chemical May Fight Diabetes

... "SIRT1 has a variety of functions in the body," Kim said. "Now we can move on to other tissues, such as the brain. It is possible that regulating the hypothalamus with SIRT1 can prevent diet-induced obesity." That is clearly a long-term goal, said Janice M. Zabolotny, an instructor in medicine at Beth Israel ...

Eap1 in the Brain Regulates the Female Reproductive Cycle

... cycle are events controlled by neurons in the hypothalamus that secrete gonadotropin-releasing hormone ... was selectively increased at puberty in the hypothalamus in monkeys, rats, and mice. They also showed that ... that inhibition of EPA1 expression in the rat hypothalamus delayed the onset of puberty and disrupted ...

UCLA Imaging Study Reveals How Pure Oxygen Harms the Brain

... rate and hormonal outflow. Activation of the hypothalamus triggered a cascade of harmful reactions and ... responded to 100 percent oxygen by kicking the hypothalamus into overdrive," explained Harper. "The hypothalamus overreacted by dumping a massive flood of ...

How Does Leptin Work?

... cells release Leptin into the bloodstream. The hypothalamus ‘reads’ the amount of circulating Leptin and uses ... is known to bind to cell-surface receptors in the hypothalamus and then to activate various other cellular ... inactivating STAT3 with pinpoint accuracy in the hypothalamus and observing the results in laboratory animals ...

Overeating Caused By Consuming Too Many Flavors All At Once

... too many flavors all at once, triggering the hypothalamus in the brain to ask for more food, says David ... It's because of sensory specific satiety; the hypothalamus strongly responds to flavors." In a pilot ... more appetite. Flavor additions stimulate the hypothalamus to produce more neuropeptide Y, a hormone that ...

Brain Chemical Identified For Drug Dependent Behavior

... have shown that these cells in the lateral hypothalamus also project to adjacent reward-associated areas ... for the August issue of the journal Nature. The hypothalamus is a small area of the brain above and behind the ... and control of hormonal secretion. The lateral hypothalamus is referred to as the brain’s hunger center. ...

Molecular Basis of Obesity-Revealing the Unknown Facts

... for spontaneous activity," Treier says. "Mice that lack Bsx in their hypothalamus are a lot lazier than normal mice. They show less spontaneous activity and ... its effect by regulating the expression of NPY and AgRP, hormones of the hypothalamus that promote feeding. Without Bsx less hormones are made with the result ...

Brain behind the Brawn: Vital Molecule in the Brain Controls Appetite

... have identified a key protein called nesfatin-1 which is present in the hypothalamus of rat brains. The hypothalamus is a region of the brain that regulates appetite and temperature. The ...

Search for Human Pheromone

... scans. The estrogen like compound activated a part of the hypothalamus. hypothalamus is important in sexual behavior as seen in animal studies. Dr. Ivanka ... found that heterosexual women responded to the male sweat odor in the hypothalamus and heterosexual men responded to female estrogen in the hypothalamus. But ...

Scientists locate key hormone involved in appetite control

... and have shown that the hormone activated the specialized neurons in the hypothalamus involved in weight regulation. Ghrelin is a hormone produced in the ... ghrelin production in the body. The site is located in a section of the hypothalamus that had no previously known function and that is near the brain region ...

A Fit of Laughter Silenced by an Unusual Surgery

... frightening at first when we didn't know what was going on. She was smiling and grinding and laughing. It sounded very scary. Anastasia's hypothalamus was home to a benign tumor which was causing the seizures. This condition termed in medical parlance as hypothalamic hamartoma, is extremely rare ...

A ‘Fit’ of Laughter Silenced by an Unusual Surgey

... very frightening at first when we didn't know what was going on. She was smiling and grinding and laughing. It sounded very scary.” Anastasia's hypothalamus was home to a benign tumor which was causing the seizures. This condition termed in medical parlance as hypothalamic hamartoma, is extremely rare ...

Neurostimulation Therapy to ease cluster headaches

... medication every day for years. But in some cases, drugs do no good. The use of brain stimulation in targeting a region called the posterior hypothalamus has been found quite effective yet it runs the dangerous risk of patients developing a fatal hemorrhage. In the second body of work, Jean ...

Targeting SOCS-3 can Control Obesity

... as is often the case in humans. The low-fat diet group did not develop these health problems. "This research demonstrates how a portion of the hypothalamus of the brain, called the arcuate nucleus, is negatively impacted by an overabundance of leptin," explained Michael Cowley, Ph.D., an associate ...

Rhythms of Life

... and pressure decreases, and the body prepares for rest and sleep. The circadian rhythm is controlled by a group of cells, situated in the hypothalamus of the brain, called Supra Chiasmatic Nucleus (SCN), otherwise referred to as the 'Biological Clock'. Sunlight reaches the SCN through the ...

Mitochondrial Protein Maintains Appetite During Fasting

... studies to learn whether this mechanism may indeed have thermogenic consequences in the brain and if so, whether selective cooling or heating of the hypothalamus could affect metabolism.” Diano said the mitochondria in the brain appear to be important players in regulating neuronal function associated ...

US Company Develops Better Weight Reduction Pill

... With the pounds slower to come off, many lose their resolve and end up piling weight back on. Excalia gets round this by tricking the hypothalamus - the brain's weight and appetite thermostat - into keeping the metabolism running fast. The pill contains two drugs, which are already widely ...

Biological Basis Behind a Couch Potato

... to find out whether it enhances activity more in lean rats than in obese rats, Kotz explained. The researchers injected orexin into the lateral hypothalamus area of the brains of both groups and found that the lean rats became even more active, while the obese rats didn't respond much at all. "Not only do ...

Serotonin the Answer for Anti-Obesity Treatment

... team set out to detail how fenfluramine affected the brain's molecular pathways to reduce appetite. In 2002, they examined the region of the brain's hypothalamus containing the arcuate nucleus, or ARC. In the ARC, drug-induced serotonin activates brain cells called pro-opiomelanocortin neurons, or POMC, which ...

New findings, throw light on obesity

... cilia could play a role in the symptoms of BBS and its related obesity. The researcher said that cilia on neurons on the brain in areas such as the hypothalamus which are involved in appetite control could be defective. He also said that BSS proteins present in the cilia are involved in a pathway known as ...

Leptin, The Next Generation Antidepressant?

... They also found that Intrahippocampal infusions of Leptin caused anti-depressant like effect in the forced swimming test. But on the other hand hypothalamus infusion of Leptin had no effect on forced swimming test. Then they came up with the notion that hippocampus is a brain is mediating Leptin's ...