A new study by researchers from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) has uncovered how the brain carefully controls our food intake by dividing it into different phases.
This process works like a relay race, where groups of neurons in the brain pass the baton to one another, ensuring we eat just the right amount of food to meet our energy needs.
The study was published in The Journal of Neuroscience.
The brain’s ability to regulate food intake is important for survival, and problems with this system can lead to eating disorders like anorexia or binge eating.
The hypothalamus, a part of the brain, plays a crucial role in this process.
It constantly receives information from the body about things like blood sugar levels and hunger, and it uses this data to decide when we need to eat.
One of the key challenges the brain faces is making sure we don’t stop eating too soon or eat too much.
“When we start eating, we quickly shift from feeling hungry to feeling satisfied,” explains Prof. Dr. Alexey Ponomarenko, the lead researcher. “But the brain needs to carefully manage the length of time we spend eating, so we get the right amount of energy.”
The research team, working with scientists from the University Hospital of Cologne, studied the hypothalamus in mice, which is structured similarly to the human hypothalamus.
Using artificial intelligence, they analyzed which neurons became active during different stages of eating.
The researchers discovered four distinct groups of neurons that become active in sequence, much like the hand-off in a relay race.
Each group of neurons seems to respond to different signals from the body, such as blood sugar levels, hunger hormones, and how full the stomach feels. For example, the last group of neurons may be more influenced by the stretch sensors in the stomach, which tell the brain when we’re full.
Interestingly, the researchers also found that these groups of neurons communicate using the same rhythm or frequency, much like tuning into the same channel on a radio.
This shared rhythm makes it easier for the neurons to work together and ensure the eating process ends at the right time.
This discovery could have therapeutic potential. Scientists are already able to influence the rhythm of neurons using techniques like oscillating magnetic fields. In the future, this could help people with eating disorders by improving how neurons communicate during eating.
The team is now planning follow-up studies using a technique called optogenetics, which allows them to directly control neurons with light.
By studying how this affects feeding behavior in mice, they hope to learn even more about how the brain manages eating and how this knowledge could be used to treat eating disorders.
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