Obesity could be treated by mapping the brain stem`s control: Study

Every meal you eat leaves a lasting imprint, with meals either being saved as delectable things to seek out again or avoided in disgust if we associate the flavour with gut discomfort. The process of choosing which foods to seek out and which to avoid turns out to be so crucial to our welfare that the signals are coordinated in the brain`s most rudimentary regions, the brain stem or hindbrain.

Additionally, this part of the brain aids in determining when we are "full" and whether we should stop eating. Since the discovery of two interconnected systems, the leptin and melanocortin systems, which play crucial roles in regulating energy balance, scientists have concentrated on the hypothalamus as a way to understand how and why people gain weight as well as the diseases that can be brought on by overeating and obesity.

A study published in the journal 'Nature Metabolism' uses a method that provides an objective picture of the neurons involved to examine the many brain circuits that converge in the brain stem to regulate feeding behaviour. Since the discovery of two interconnected systems, the leptin and melanocortin systems, which play crucial roles in regulating energy balance, scientists have concentrated on the hypothalamus as a way to understand how and why people gain weight as well as the diseases that can be brought on by overeating and obesity.

The recent review builds on work done in collaboration with colleague Tune Pers, PhD, of the University of Copenhagen, as well as recent findings in mice from the Myers lab that showed the existence of two distinct food intake-suppressing brain stem circuits--one that causes nausea and disgust and the other that does not.

The dorsal vagal complex, a region of the brain stem that governs a variety of unconscious processes, including feelings of satisfaction (or sickness) after eating, was the focus of single cell mapping by Pers and his team.These results are combined with other recent findings in the current review paper by first author Wenwen Cheng, PhD, Myers, Pers, and their colleagues to create a new model of brainstem neural networks and how they regulate appetite and nausea.The recent review builds on work done in collaboration with colleague Tune Pers, PhD, of the University of Copenhagen, as well as recent findings in mice from the Myers lab that showed the existence of two distinct food intake-suppressing brain stem circuits, one that causes nausea and disgust and the other that does not.

According to Myers, developing medications with fewer adverse side effects can benefit from having a thorough map of these neurons and an understanding of the results of altering these cell targets.