Do you grab a fork and take a first bite of cake, or say no and walk away? Our motivation to eat is driven by a complex web of cells in the brain that use signals from within the body, as well as sensory information about the food in front of us, to determine our behaviors.
Now, scientists have identified a group of neurons in a small and understudied region of the brain -- the parasubthalamic nucleus -- that controls when an animal decides to take a first bite of food.
The research team found that the ensemble of cells sensitive to binge-eating were capable of drastically changing the behavior of mice. Hungry mice normally start chowing down on food quickly once it becomes available to them. But when researchers turned on this ensemble of PSTN cells, mice were much slower to begin eating and, surprisingly, much faster to drink water.
In addition to Contet and Dunning, authors of the study,"The parasubthalamic nucleus refeeding ensemble delays feeding initiation and hastens water drinking," include Catherine Lopez, Colton Krull, Max Kreifeldt, Maggie Angelo and Leeann Shu of Scripps Research; and Charu Ramakrishnan and Karl Deisseroth of Stanford University.
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