Hypothalamus News and Research

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

UTSW scientists discover a possible strategy to combat obesity

UT Southwestern scientists may have identified a method of safely mimicking the weight-loss benefits of a plant compound that – despite its harmful side effects – hold critical answers to developing therapies for obesity.

2 Nov 2021

Air pollution reduces sperm count by causing brain inflammation, mice study shows

Researchers have long known that air pollution can increase the risk of disorders such as obesity, diabetes, and fertility, but they did not know the exact mechanism for how it can lead to these health conditions.

25 Oct 2021

Researchers identify protein that plays a key role in how the brain regulates appetite and metabolism

Researchers from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University have identified a protein that plays a key role in how the brain regulates appetite and metabolism.

18 Oct 2021

High fat diet exacerbates Alzheimer's disease in mouse model

Research has shown that individuals who have diabetes are more prone to develop dementia. Although people are widely aware of diabetes, owing to its common occurrence, they are less aware of prediabetes. Similar to diabetes, prediabetes is also associated with impaired glucose tolerance. However, unlike diabetes, patients with prediabetes show a slight increase in insulin and fasting blood glucose rather than hyperglycemia.

7 Oct 2021

High fat diets break the body clock in rats leading to over-eating and obesity

When rats are fed a high fat diet, this disturbs the body clock in their brain that normally controls satiety, leading to over-eating and obesity. That's according to new research published in The Journal of Physiology.

7 Sep 2021

People cannot perceive decrease in body temperature when exercising, study finds

In a study published this month in Physiology & Behavior, research teams at the University of Tsukuba, led by Takeshi Nishiyasu, and at Niigata University of Health and Welfare, led by Tomomi Fujimoto, have found that, when exercising, people cannot perceive decreases in their core body temperature caused by the cold as well as they can when they are resting. This research has implications for recreational activities in colder climates, such as hiking and skiing.

20 Aug 2021

New discovery offers several approaches to fight visceral obesity

Pioneering mouse study offers new therapeutic avenues for reducing visceral fat stores, which have been associated with cardiovascular disease and multiple types of cancer.

18 Aug 2021

Brain memory signals may influence blood sugar levels, rat study finds

A set of brain signals known to help memories form may also influence blood sugar levels, finds a new study in rats.

11 Aug 2021

Maternal and paternal behaviors in voles promoted by the exact same neural pathways

Like female voles, connections between oxytocin neurons in the hypothalamus and dopamine neurons in reward areas drive parental behaviors in male voles, according to new research published in JNeurosci.

2 Jul 2021

Eating disorder behaviors modulate the brain's dopamine-related reward circuit response

Researchers have found that eating disorder behaviors, such as binge-eating, alter the brain's reward response process and food intake control circuitry, which can reinforce these behaviors. Understanding how eating disorder behaviors and neurobiology interact can shed light on why these disorders often become chronic and could aid in the future development of treatments.

30 Jun 2021

Modulating the rap1 mechanism can help control blood sugar levels

Managing type 2 diabetes typically involves losing weight, exercise and medication, but new research by Dr. Makoto Fukuda and colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine and other institutions suggests that there may be other ways to control the condition through the brain.

23 Jun 2021

Researchers reveal the role of hypothalamic astrocytes in obesity-related hypertension

Researchers have succeeded for the first time in demonstrating the role of hypothalamic astrocytes in obesity-related hypertension.

15 Jun 2021

Low levels of BPA exposure can affect prenatal brain development

Humans are exposed to a bath of chemicals every day. They are in the beds where we sleep, the cars that we drive and the kitchens we use to feed our families.

1 Jun 2021

Study reveals why mothers take extra risks to protect their children

It might seem like a given that mothers take extra risks to protect their children, but have you ever wondered why? A new study led by Kumi Kuroda at the RIKEN Center for Brain Science (CBS) in Japan shows that in mice, this and other nurturing behaviors are driven in part by neurons in a small part of the forebrain that contain a protein called the calcitonin receptor.

1 Jun 2021

Vagus nerve stimulation may be a potential adjunct therapy for COVID-19

COVID-19 was initially described as lung inflammation, or pneumonia, in older adults. However, we now know that SARS-CoV-2 infections can cause a wide range of symptoms in people of all ages, ranging from no symptoms at all to systemic inflammation and even death.

27 May 2021

Oxytocin-vasopressin circuit has distinct dynamics throughout embryonic development

The work, carried out by Pilar Madrigal and Sandra Jurado, from the UMH-CSIC Neurosciences Institute in Alicante, a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council and Miguel Hernández University, has been published in Communications Biology, a Nature group´s journal.

22 May 2021

Genetic mutation associated with autism can impair oxytocin-mediated social behavior

Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental condition involving impaired social abilities, and this makes it a fascinating subject for neuroscientists like Prof. Teiichi Furuichi of the Tokyo University of Science who study the neuroscience of social behavior.

19 May 2021