Neuroscientists to solve the mystery of overeating

Eating is one of life’s guilty pleasures but overeating is one of the growing problems of today’s world.

Researchers around the world are now exploring the neurons and hormones related to eating beyond normal capacity.

The Stuber Lab at the University Of Washington School Of Medicine’s researchers revealed that particular cells start in obese mice and avoid signs that specify the feeling of fullness.

The journal Neuron published a news study on the process of glutamatergic neurons in mice. These cells are situated in the lateral hypothalamic area of the brain, a centre that controls inspired behaviors, comprising feeding.

“We found these cells are not a monolithic group, and that different flavors of these cells do different things,” said Stuber, a joint UW professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine and pharmacology. He works at the UW Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction, Pain, and Emotion, and was the paper’s senior author. Mark Rossi, acting instructor of anesthesiology and pain medicine, is the lead author.

The study is a step in determining the brain routes intricate in eating disorders.

The Stuber Lab is studying the purpose of major cell groups in the brain’s recompense circuit and describes their character in obsession and mental illness in order to find treatments.

The researchers are trying to find the answer to one question which is whether these cells can be directed by drugs without damaging other portions of the brain.

Researchers have also studied the influence of the hormones leptin and ghrelin on our eating process. Both leptin and ghrelin are thought to control comportments through their effect on the mesolimbic dopamine system, a key module of the recompense trail in the brain.

The study specified that brain circuits that control feeding partly overlay with brain circuitry intricate in drug addiction with eating which additionally causes overeating.