Viscerosensory Control of Feeding Behavior

Obesity continues to be a major health crisis, afflicting populations worldwide with comorbidities that include type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. At the most basic level, weight gain is caused by energy consumption being greater than energy expenditure, thus neural pathways controlling feeding behavior are attractive therapeutic targets. While recent studies have advanced our understanding of neural circuits involved in food intake control located within the hypothalamus and other brain areas, little progress has been made in the identification and characterization of peripheral neurocircuits that convey gut satiety signals to the brain. We propose to investigate these peripheral neural circuits using leading edge neuroscience techniques and aim to discover potential therapeutic targets for reducing appetite and treating obesity.