1
|
Huesing C, Zhang R, Gummadi S, Lee N, Qualls-Creekmore E, Yu S, Morrison CD, Burk D, Berthoud HR, Neuhuber W, Münzberg H. Organization of sympathetic innervation of interscapular brown adipose tissue in the mouse. J Comp Neurol 2021; 530:1363-1378. [PMID: 34837221 DOI: 10.1002/cne.25281] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2021] [Revised: 11/01/2021] [Accepted: 11/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The interscapular brown adipose tissue (iBAT) is under sympathetic control, and recent studies emphasized the importance of efferent sympathetic and afferent sensory or humoral feedback systems to regulate adipose tissue function and overall metabolic health. However, functional studies of the sympathetic nervous system in the mouse are limited, because details of anatomy and fine structure are lacking. Here, we used reporter mice for tyrosine hydroxylase expressing neurons (TH:tomato mice), iDISCO tissue clearance, confocal, lightsheet, and electron microscopy to clarify that (a) iBAT receives sympathetic input via dorsal rami (instead of often cited intercostal nerves); (b) dorsal rami T1-T5 correspond to the postganglionic input from sympathetic chain ganglia (stellate/T1-T5); (c) dorsal rami serve as conduits for sympathetic axons that branch off in finer nerve bundles to enter iBAT; (d) axonal varicosities show strong differential innervation of brown (dense innervation) versus white (sparse innervation) adipocytes, that surround the core iBAT in the mouse and are intermingled in human adipose tissues, (e) axonal varicosities can form neuro-adipocyte junctions with brown adipocytes. Taken together, we demonstrate that sympathetic iBAT innervation is organized by specific nerves and terminal structures that can be surgically and genetically accessed for neuromodulatory purposes.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Clara Huesing
- Neurobiology of Nutrition & Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| | - Rui Zhang
- Neurobiology of Nutrition & Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| | - Sanjeev Gummadi
- Neurobiology of Nutrition & Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| | - Nathan Lee
- Neurobiology of Nutrition & Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| | - Emily Qualls-Creekmore
- Neurobiology of Nutrition & Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| | - Sangho Yu
- Neurobiology of Nutrition & Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| | - Christopher D Morrison
- Neurobiology of Nutrition & Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| | - David Burk
- Neurobiology of Nutrition & Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| | - Hans Rudolf Berthoud
- Neurobiology of Nutrition & Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| | - Winfried Neuhuber
- Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Friedrich-Alexander-University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Bavaria, Germany
| | - Heike Münzberg
- Neurobiology of Nutrition & Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Torres H, Huesing C, Burk DH, Molinas AJR, Neuhuber WL, Berthoud HR, Münzberg H, Derbenev AV, Zsombok A. Sympathetic innervation of the mouse kidney and liver arising from prevertebral ganglia. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 2021; 321:R328-R337. [PMID: 34231420 DOI: 10.1152/ajpregu.00079.2021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) plays a crucial role in the regulation of renal and hepatic functions. Although sympathetic nerves to the kidney and liver have been identified in many species, specific details are lacking in the mouse. In the absence of detailed information of sympathetic prevertebral innervation of specific organs, selective manipulation of a specific function will remain challenging. Despite providing major postganglionic inputs to abdominal organs, limited data are available about the mouse celiac-superior mesenteric complex. We used tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and dopamine β-hydroxylase (DbH) reporter mice to visualize abdominal prevertebral ganglia. We found that both the TH and DbH reporter mice are useful models for identification of ganglia and nerve bundles. We further tested if the celiac-superior mesenteric complex provides differential inputs to the mouse kidney and liver. The retrograde viral tracer, pseudorabies virus (PRV)-152 was injected into the cortex of the left kidney or the main lobe of the liver to identify kidney-projecting and liver-projecting neurons in the celiac-superior mesenteric complex. iDISCO immunostaining and tissue clearing were used to visualize unprecedented anatomical detail of kidney-related and liver-related postganglionic neurons in the celiac-superior mesenteric complex and aorticorenal and suprarenal ganglia compared with TH-positive neurons. Kidney-projecting neurons were restricted to the suprarenal and aorticorenal ganglia, whereas only sparse labeling was observed in the celiac-superior mesenteric complex. In contrast, liver-projecting postganglionic neurons were observed in the celiac-superior mesenteric complex and aorticorenal and suprarenal ganglia, suggesting spatial separation between the sympathetic innervation of the mouse kidney and liver.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Hayden Torres
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| | - Clara Huesing
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| | - David H Burk
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| | - Adrien J R Molinas
- Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana
| | | | - Hans-Rudolf Berthoud
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| | - Heike Münzberg
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| | - Andrei V Derbenev
- Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana.,Brain Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana
| | - Andrea Zsombok
- Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana.,Brain Institute, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Ghosh S, Park CH, Lee J, Lee N, Zhang R, Huesing C, Reijnders D, Sones J, Münzberg H, Redman L, Chang JS. Maternal cold exposure induces distinct transcriptome changes in the placenta and fetal brown adipose tissue in mice. BMC Genomics 2021; 22:500. [PMID: 34217204 PMCID: PMC8254942 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-021-07825-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2020] [Accepted: 06/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is specialized to dissipate energy in the form of heat. BAT-mediated heat production in rodents and humans is critical for effective temperature adaptation of newborns to the extrauterine environment immediately after birth. However, very little is known about whether and how fetal BAT development is modulated in-utero in response to changes in maternal thermal environment during pregnancy. Using BL6 mice, we evaluated the impact of different maternal environmental temperatures (28 °C and 18 °C) on the transcriptome of the placenta and fetal BAT to test if maternal cold exposure influences fetal BAT development via placental remodeling. Results Maternal weight gain during pregnancy, the average number of fetuses per pregnancy, and placental weight did not differ between the groups at 28 °C and 18 °C. However, the average fetal weight at E18.5 was 6% lower in the 18 °C-group compared to the 28 °C-group. In fetal BATs, cold exposure during pregnancy induced increased expression of genes involved in de novo lipogenesis and lipid metabolism while decreasing the expression of genes associated with muscle cell differentiation, thus suggesting that maternal cold exposure may promote fetal brown adipogenesis by suppressing the myogenic lineage in bidirectional progenitors. In placental tissues, maternal cold exposure was associated with upregulation of genes involved in complement activation and downregulation of genes related to muscle contraction and actin-myosin filament sliding. These changes may coordinate placental adaptation to maternal cold exposure, potentially by protecting against cold stress-induced inflammatory damage and modulating the vascular and extravascular contractile system in the placenta. Conclusions These findings provide evidence that environmental cold temperature sensed by the mother can modulate the transcriptome of placental and fetal BAT tissues. The ramifications of the observed gene expression changes warrant future investigation. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12864-021-07825-6.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sujoy Ghosh
- Genomics and Bioinformatics Core, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, 6400 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, USA.,Centre for Computational Biology, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Chul-Hong Park
- Gene Regulation and Metabolism, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, 6400 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70808, USA
| | - Jisu Lee
- Gene Regulation and Metabolism, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, 6400 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70808, USA
| | - Nathan Lee
- Leptin Signaling in The Brain, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| | - Rui Zhang
- Leptin Signaling in The Brain, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| | - Clara Huesing
- Leptin Signaling in The Brain, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| | - Dorien Reijnders
- Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| | - Jennifer Sones
- Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| | - Heike Münzberg
- Leptin Signaling in The Brain, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| | - Leanne Redman
- Reproductive Endocrinology and Women's Health, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
| | - Ji Suk Chang
- Gene Regulation and Metabolism, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, 6400 Perkins Road, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70808, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Huesing C, Qualls‐Creekmore E, Lee N, François M, Torres H, Zhang R, Burk DH, Yu S, Morrison CD, Berthoud H, Neuhuber W, Münzberg H. Sympathetic innervation of inguinal white adipose tissue in the mouse. J Comp Neurol 2021; 529:1465-1485. [PMID: 32935348 PMCID: PMC7960575 DOI: 10.1002/cne.25031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2020] [Revised: 09/08/2020] [Accepted: 09/09/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Adipose tissue plays an important role in metabolic homeostasis and its prominent role as endocrine organ is now well recognized. Adipose tissue is controlled via the sympathetic nervous system (SNS). New viral, molecular-genetic tools will soon allow a more detailed study of adipose tissue innervation in metabolic function, yet, the precise anatomical extent of preganglionic and postganglionic inputs to the inguinal white adipose tissue (iWAT) is limited. Furthermore, several viral, molecular-genetic tools will require the use of cre/loxP mouse models, while the available studies on sympathetic iWAT innervation were established in larger species. In this study, we generated a detailed map for the sympathetic innervation of iWAT in male and female mice. We adapted iDISCO tissue clearing to process large, whole-body specimens for an unprecedented view of the natural abdominal SNS. Combined with pseudorabies virus retrograde tracing from the iWAT, we defined the preganglionic and postganglionic sympathetic input to iWAT. We used fluorescence-guided anatomical dissections of sympathetic nerves in reporter mice to further clarify that postganglionic axons connect to iWAT via lateral cutaneous rami (dorsolumbar iWAT portion) and the lumbar plexus (inguinal iWAT portion). Importantly, these rami carry axons that branch to iWAT, as well as axons that travel further to innervate the skin and vasculature, and their functional impact will require consideration in denervation studies. Our study may serve as a comprehensive map for future experiments that employ virally driven neuromodulation techniques to predict anatomy-based viral labeling.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Clara Huesing
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism DepartmentPennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University SystemBaton RougeLouisianaUSA
| | - Emily Qualls‐Creekmore
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism DepartmentPennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University SystemBaton RougeLouisianaUSA
| | - Nathan Lee
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism DepartmentPennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University SystemBaton RougeLouisianaUSA
| | - Marie François
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism DepartmentPennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University SystemBaton RougeLouisianaUSA
| | - Hayden Torres
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism DepartmentPennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University SystemBaton RougeLouisianaUSA
| | - Rui Zhang
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism DepartmentPennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University SystemBaton RougeLouisianaUSA
| | - David H. Burk
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism DepartmentPennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University SystemBaton RougeLouisianaUSA
| | - Sangho Yu
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism DepartmentPennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University SystemBaton RougeLouisianaUSA
| | - Christopher D. Morrison
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism DepartmentPennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University SystemBaton RougeLouisianaUSA
| | - Hans‐Rudolf Berthoud
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism DepartmentPennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University SystemBaton RougeLouisianaUSA
| | - Winfried Neuhuber
- Institute for Anatomy and Cell Biology, Friedrich‐Alexander UniversityErlangenGermany
| | - Heike Münzberg
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism DepartmentPennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University SystemBaton RougeLouisianaUSA
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Muenzberg-Gruening H, Huesing C, Gummadi S, Zhang R, Lee N, Qualls-Creekmore E, Yu S, Morrison CD, Burk D, Berthoud HR, Neuhuber W. Structure of sympathetic input to interscapular brown adipose tissue in the mouse. FASEB J 2020. [DOI: 10.1096/fasebj.2020.34.s1.09502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Rui Zhang
- Pennington Biomedical Research Center
| | | | | | - Sangho Yu
- Pennington Biomedical Research Center
| | | | | | | | | |
Collapse
|
6
|
François M, Torres H, Huesing C, Zhang R, Saurage C, Lee N, Qualls-Creekmore E, Yu S, Morrison CD, Burk D, Berthoud HR, Münzberg H. Sympathetic innervation of the interscapular brown adipose tissue in mouse. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2019; 1454:3-13. [PMID: 31184376 PMCID: PMC6810755 DOI: 10.1111/nyas.14119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2018] [Revised: 04/05/2019] [Accepted: 04/24/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
The recent discovery of significant brown fat depots in adult humans has revived discussion of exploiting brown fat thermogenesis in the control of energy balance and body weight. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) has a key role in the activation of brown fat and functional mapping of its components will be crucial for the development of specific neuromodulation techniques. The mouse is an important species used for molecular genetic modulations, but its small size is not ideal for anatomical dissections, thus brown fat innervation studies are mostly available in larger rodents such as rats and hamsters. Here, we use pseudorabies virus retrograde tracing, whole tissue clearing, and confocal/light sheet microscopy to show the location of pre- and postganglionic neurons selectively innervating the interscapular brown adipose tissue (iBAT) in the mouse. Using iDISCO whole tissue clearing, we identified iBAT projecting postganglionic neurons in the caudal parts of the ipsilateral fused stellate/T1, as well as the T2-T5 sympathetic chain ganglia and preganglionic neurons between levels T2 and T6 of the ipsilateral spinal cord. The methodology enabled high-resolution imaging and 3D rendering of the specific SNS innervation of iBAT and will be helpful to discern peripheral nervous system innervation of other organs and tissues.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Marie François
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| | - Hayden Torres
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| | - Clara Huesing
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| | - Rui Zhang
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| | - Carson Saurage
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| | - Nathan Lee
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| | - Emily Qualls-Creekmore
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| | - Sangho Yu
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| | - Christopher D Morrison
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| | - David Burk
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| | - Hans Rudolf Berthoud
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| | - Heike Münzberg
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Yu S, Cheng H, François M, Qualls-Creekmore E, Huesing C, He Y, Jiang Y, Gao H, Xu Y, Zsombok A, Derbenev AV, Nillni EA, Burk DH, Morrison CD, Berthoud HR, Münzberg H. Preoptic leptin signaling modulates energy balance independent of body temperature regulation. eLife 2018; 7:33505. [PMID: 29761783 PMCID: PMC5953538 DOI: 10.7554/elife.33505] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2017] [Accepted: 04/19/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The adipokine leptin acts on the brain to regulate energy balance but specific functions in many brain areas remain poorly understood. Among these, the preoptic area (POA) is well known to regulate core body temperature by controlling brown fat thermogenesis, and we have previously shown that glutamatergic, long-form leptin receptor (Lepr)-expressing neurons in the POA are stimulated by warm ambient temperature and suppress energy expenditure and food intake. Here we further investigate the role of POA leptin signaling in body weight regulation and its relationship to body temperature regulation in mice. We show that POA Lepr signaling modulates energy expenditure in response to internal energy state, and thus contributes to body weight homeostasis. However, POA leptin signaling is not involved in ambient temperature-dependent metabolic adaptations. Our study reveals a novel cell population through which leptin regulates body weight.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sangho Yu
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, United States
| | - Helia Cheng
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, United States
| | - Marie François
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, United States
| | - Emily Qualls-Creekmore
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, United States
| | - Clara Huesing
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, United States
| | - Yanlin He
- Children's Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States
| | - Yanyan Jiang
- Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, United States
| | - Hong Gao
- Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, United States
| | - Yong Xu
- Children's Nutrition Research Center, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States.,Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States
| | - Andrea Zsombok
- Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, United States
| | - Andrei V Derbenev
- Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, United States
| | - Eduardo A Nillni
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States.,The Warren Alpert Medical School, Department of Medicine, Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, United States
| | - David H Burk
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, United States
| | - Christopher D Morrison
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, United States
| | - Hans-Rudolf Berthoud
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, United States
| | - Heike Münzberg
- Neurobiology of Nutrition and Metabolism Department, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University System, Baton Rouge, United States
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Abstract
The preoptic area (POA) of the hypothalamus is involved in many physiological and behavioral processes thanks to its interconnections to many brain areas and ability to respond to diverse humoral factors. One main function of the POA is to manage body temperature homeostasis, e.g. in response to ambient temperature change, which is achieved in part by controlling brown adipose tissue thermogenesis. The POA is also importantly involved in modulating food intake in response to temperature change, thus making it relevant for body weight homeostasis and obesity research. POA function in body weight control is highly unexplored, and a better understanding of POA circuits and their integration into classic hypothalamic circuits that regulate energy homeostasis is expected to provide new opportunities for the scientific basis and treatment of obesity and comorbidities.
Collapse
|