Metabolic neuroscience

Staff members

Prof. Michael Cowley

Dr Pablo Enriori

Research

• Selective leptin resistance and causes of metabolic syndrome
• Brain control of blood glucose levels
• Reward and obesity. Food; Too much of a good thing?
  
  
  Research in the Metabolic Neuroscience research group began with studies on the cellular and neural circuitry responses to signals of energy status: how the brain determines how much energy (fat) is stored in the body. We set out to map the pathways that are engaged by signals of energy state, and how these pathways relay information to the rest of the brain. Using this map of the melanocortin circuits in the hypothalamus (the region of the brain responsible for basic functions including thirst, hunger, the desire to reproduce and other essential processes) we were able to discover new signals within the body that regulate energy balance and describe how other known energy signals exert their effects on the brain.
  
  Research in the lab now focuses on how these signals from the body lose ability to control our weight once the person is obese. We seek to determine how and why the brain becomes resistant to signals that are meant to convey that the body has sufficient stores of energy, and should start to burn more, and eat less.
  
  A possible explanation for the recent increase in obesity relates to the very rewarding aspects of highly palatable foods, in other words why are sweet or fatty foods more "tasty" than other foods? Furthermore, why do we continue to engage in eating behavior that is obviously bad for us?
  
  We wish to determine how the reward based pathways and homeostatic pathways interact, and how reward overrules homeostatic signals of satiety (the feeling that one can always squeeze in one more piece of chocolate cake…). We seek to better understand the structure of the neural pathways by which the reward and homeostatic circuits interact.