| First Author | Cains S | Year | 2017 |
| Journal | Nat Commun | Volume | 8 |
| Pages | 14014 | PubMed ID | 28072397 |
| Mgi Jnum | J:248062 | Mgi Id | MGI:5918581 |
| Doi | 10.1038/ncomms14014 | Citation | Cains S, et al. (2017) Agrp neuron activity is required for alcohol-induced overeating. Nat Commun 8:14014 |
| abstractText | Alcohol intake associates with overeating in humans. This overeating is a clinical concern, but its causes are puzzling, because alcohol (ethanol) is a calorie-dense nutrient, and calorie intake usually suppresses brain appetite signals. The biological factors necessary for ethanol-induced overeating remain unclear, and societal causes have been proposed. Here we show that core elements of the brain's feeding circuits-the hypothalamic Agrp neurons that are normally activated by starvation and evoke intense hunger-display electrical and biochemical hyperactivity on exposure to dietary doses of ethanol in brain slices. Furthermore, by circuit-specific chemogenetic interference in vivo, we find that the Agrp cell activity is essential for ethanol-induced overeating in the absence of societal factors, in single-housed mice. These data reveal how a widely consumed nutrient can paradoxically sustain brain starvation signals, and identify a biological factor required for appetite evoked by alcohol. |
