Endocrine Abstracts

Environmental cues recalling palatable foods motivate eating beyond metabolic need, yet the timing of this response and whether it can develop towards a less palatable but readily available food remain elusive. Increasing evidence indicates that external stimuli in the olfactory modality communicate with the major hub in the feeding neurocircuitry, namely the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (Arc), but the neural substrates involved have been only partially uncovered. By means of ...

Accumulating evidence suggests that ghrelin’s physiological role extends beyond appetite and energy balance to include reward-seeking behaviour both for food (a natural reward) and chemical drugs. The neurochemical circuitry that links ghrelin to reward behavior and the level of the mesolimbic reward system remains unclear. Ghrelin receptors can be found on the ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine neurons. It is not known, however, which dopaminergic projections are rele...