Hypothalamus News and Research

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The Hypothalamus is the area of the brain that controls body temperature, hunger, and thirst.

Stress inhibits eating behavior

Many human beings can’t swallow a thing when faced with significant stress, among other strong emotional states. However, scientists don’t know much about how the brain brings about these emotion-related effects on eating behavior.

19 Aug 2019

Researchers discover how stress can decrease the desire to eat

Eating disorder researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) have discovered a neurocircuit in mice that, when activated, increased their stress levels while decreasing their desire to eat. Findings appear in Nature Communications.

18 Aug 2019

Maternal behavior in mice linked to oxytocin-sensitive cells in the female brain

A startling new study shows that cells that are exquisitely sensitive to oxytocin are found in a tiny region in the brains of female but not male mice. This could be of great importance in explaining maternal behavior in females and eventually in treating social disorders like postpartum depression and autism spectrum disorder.

25 Jul 2019

A bath 90 minutes before bedtime best for a good night’s sleep, experts say

Do you have trouble sleeping? Taking a bath approximately 90 minutes before sleeping may help you sleep faster and better, a new study suggests.

22 Jul 2019

Harnessing target of the brain chemical serotonin to combat obesity

Research presented next week at Physiology 2019 - the annual conference of The Physiological Society - reveals a way to harness the target of the brain chemical serotonin to combat the obesity epidemic.

8 Jul 2019

Researchers propose new avenue in the search for anti-obesity drugs

Effective weight-loss strategies call for eating less food, burning more calories--or ideally, both. But for the more than 90 million Americans who suffer from obesity, a disease that contributes to conditions ranging from cancer to heart disease, behavioral change is hard to accomplish or not effective enough--which is why scientists have long sought drugs that would help people shed pounds.

29 Jun 2019

How an orchestra of neurons control hunger pangs

A new study has shown that multiple neurons within the brain come together to regulate the need to eat and feeling of fullness, or satiety.

26 Jun 2019

Study uncovers new hunger pathway in the brain

A newly identified hunger pathway in the brain can quickly modify food intake in the presence of food, according to a study of mice published in JNeurosci.

From Society for Neuroscience 25 Jun 2019

New mutation discovered in the leptin gene

The global obesity epidemic is so far-reaching it now has an overarching name: globesity. Texas Biomed Staff Scientist Raul Bastarrachea, M.D., is part of a team that discovered a new mutation in the gene that regulates the key hormone suppressing hunger called leptin.

22 Jun 2019

Study: Melanin-concentrating hormone neurons in hypothalamus increase REM sleep

Every night while sleeping, we cycle between two very different states of sleep. Upon falling asleep, we enter non-rapid eye movement sleep where our breathing is slow and regular and movement of our limbs or eyes are minimal.

20 Jun 2019

The basal forebrain may hold clues to food avoidance behavior

After fasting for 24 hours the typical laboratory mouse spends much time eating. Surprisingly, this is not what Jay M. Patel saw when he was studying basal forebrain circuits in mice.

18 Jun 2019

Scientists delay aging using protein found in young mice

Scientists have shown that a protein which is abundant in the blood of young mice can delay the aging process of older mice.

17 Jun 2019

Research identifies new approach to staving off the detrimental effects of aging

New research has identified a novel approach to staving off the detrimental effects of aging, according to a study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

14 Jun 2019

New studies from UCI shine light on circadian clocks

Can your liver sense when you're staring at a television screen or cellphone late at night? Apparently so, and when such activity is detected, the organ can throw your circadian rhythms out of whack, leaving you more susceptible to health problems.

30 May 2019

Growth hormone acts directly on the brain to conserve energy when the body loses weight

Researchers at the University of São Paulo in Brazil have discovered that growth hormone (GH), which stimulates skeletal maturation and linear bone growth, as well as helping maintain tissue and organs throughout life, also acts directly on the brain to conserve energy when the body loses weight.

12 Apr 2019

Researchers identify rare SRC-1 gene variants related to human obesity

Maintaining a healthy body weight is no simple matter. A better understanding of how the body regulates appetite could help tip the scale toward the healthy side.

12 Apr 2019

Eat intuitively, not restrictively

Listening to the body's cues and acting on these cues, instead of ignoring them, may improve diet success, according to researchers.

5 Apr 2019

UTM researchers uncover 'master pacemaker' for biological clocks

What makes a biological clock tick? According to a new study from U of T Mississauga, the surprising answer lies with a gene typically associated with stem and cancer cells.

28 Mar 2019

Scientists untangle the brain's life-support network

The portion of the brain known as the hypothalamus is small but mighty -- it controls fundamental behaviors and physiology that are essential for survival.

27 Mar 2019

BPA exposure during pregnancy can lead to changes in circadian rhythms

Exposure to the widely used chemical bisphenol A during pregnancy, even at levels lower than the regulated "safe" human exposure level, can lead to changes in circadian rhythms, according to a mice study to be presented Monday at ENDO 2019, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in New Orleans, La. The researchers report these changes may be a contributing factor in hyperactivity seen in BPA-exposed mice.

25 Mar 2019