Hypothalamic melanin-concentrating hormone neurons integrate food-motivated appetitive and consummatory processes in rats.

ABSTRACT: The lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) integrates homeostatic processes and reward-motivated behaviors. Here we show that LHA neurons that produce melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) are dynamically responsive to both food-directed appetitive and consummatory processes in male rats. Specifically, results reveal that MCH neuron Ca²⁺ activity increases in response to both discrete and contextual food-predictive cues and is correlated with food-motivated responses. MCH neuron activity also increases during eating, and this response is highly predictive of caloric consumption and declines throughout a meal, thus supporting a role for MCH neurons in the positive feedback consummatory process known as appetition. These physiological MCH neural responses are functionally relevant as chemo

SUBMITTER: Subramanian KS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10060386 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature