Endocrine Abstracts

Many feeding hormones that are produced by peripheral tissues depend in part or whole on their abilities to cross the blood–brain barrier (BBB) in order to access their CNS sites of action. Some of these hormones, such as leptin, are transported across the BBB by saturable transport systems. A hallmark of BBB saturable transport systems for regulatory substances is that they are themselves modulated by pathophysiological events. Leptin transport, for example, is decreased...

We have a relatively poor understanding of how the brain regulates appetite or why it can fail to do so during the development of obesity. Furthermore, neuroactive drugs are being suggested as potential pharmaceutical treatments often without a clear understanding of their mode of action. Energy-sensing systems of the brainstem and hypothalamus must engage higher motivational systems in order to enable adaptive responses. This is an important area of research as higher cogniti...

The central serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) system is an established modulator of ingestive behaviour. Pharmacological and genetic research implicates the serotonin 2C receptor (5-HT2CR) specifically in these effects. New selective 5-HT2CR agonists are being pursued for the treatment of human obesity. We sought to clarify how serotonin in general and the 5-HT2CR in particular modulate ingestive behaviour. The hypothalamus is a key brain r...

The metabolic enzyme adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) was originally discovered as a regulator of cellular energy homeostasis. It protects and replenishes cellular ATP via stimulating catabolic processes such as glycolysis and lipid oxidation, and inhibiting anabolic processes such as lipid synthesis and gluconeogenesis in peripheral tissues (liver, adipose or muscle cells). However, more recently it has emerged that AMPK activation in the hypothalamus l...