Hypothalamus News and Research

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

Penn researchers propose ethical framework that defines brain organoid transplantation

As research involving the transplantation of human "mini-brains"--known as brain organoids--into animals to study disease continues to expand, so do the ethical debates around the practice.

4 Oct 2019

Hyperthyroidism and severe hypothyroidism associated with overall unhealthy status, shorter lifespan

Herein, the authors show, using wild-type and the Pax8 ablated model of hypothyroidism in mice, that hyperthyroidism and severe hypothyroidism are associated with an overall unhealthy status and shorter lifespan.

3 Oct 2019

Love hormone oxytocin linked to hypersexuality

Sex addiction or hypersexual disorder is a behavior characterized by an excessive preoccupation with sexual fantasies, behaviors, or urges that are hard to control, causing negative effects on one’s health and relationships.

25 Sep 2019

Brain activity intensity appears to increase our need for sleep

The intensity of brain activity during the day, notwithstanding how long we've been awake, appears to increase our need for sleep, according to a new UCL study in zebrafish.

16 Sep 2019

Fatty food changes the brain to affect homeostasis and metabolism

While we all know that eating fatty food pushes up our body weight, a new study now shows it also affects the way the brain keeps track of and corrects all metabolic irregularities in the body. Soon after tucking into a high-fat, high-carb meal – as soon as three days later – the hypothalamus shows inflammation.

10 Sep 2019

High-fat diets contribute to irregularities in hypothalamus region of the brain

Much research has pointed to how an unhealthy diet correlates to obesity, but has not explored how diet can bring about neurological changes in the brain.

9 Sep 2019

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