title: Anorectic brainstem peptides: more pieces to the puzzle.
abstract: Eating a meal is a mechanical process involving autonomous pathways that relay sensory and motor information between the whole length of the digestive tract and the central nervous system. This circuitry is able to initiate and terminate the meal, primarily by gut-brainstem-gut reflex arcs, and is independent of the caloric content of a meal. However, as part of our ability to regulate body weight over time, we must be able to modulate the amount of energy that we take in as food and the amount of energy that we expend. Thus, the gut-brainstem axis must be coupled to other systems that take account of factors such as food availability and preference, changing energy requirements and our social habits. Here, we review the importance of the brainstem nucleus of the tractus solitarius as a site of integration and the routes by which it connects the gut-brainstem axis with regulatory neuronal and endocrine networks that allow for strict body weight management.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Manchester, 1.124 Stopford Building, Oxford Road, UK. simon.luckman@man.ac.uk
authors.forename: Simon M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Luckman
authors.forename: Catherine B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Lawrence
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000855:Anorexia / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000378:metabolism*; D004435:Eating; D004763:Glucagon-Like Peptides; D006706:Homeostasis; D007028:Hypothalamic Hormones / Q000378:metabolism; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000378:metabolism; D010455:Peptides / Q000378:metabolism*; D056690:Prolactin-Releasing Hormone; D017552:Solitary Nucleus / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D007028:Hypothalamic Hormones; D009479:Neuropeptides; D010455:Peptides; D056690:Prolactin-Releasing Hormone; D004763:Glucagon-Like Peptides; C015236:glucagon-like-immunoreactivity