Xiphoid nucleus of the midline thalamus controls cold-induced food seeking.

ABSTRACT: Maintaining body temperature is calorically expensive for endothermic animals¹. Mammals eat more in the cold to compensate for energy expenditure², but the neural mechanism underlying this coupling is not well understood. Through behavioural and metabolic analyses, we found that mice dynamically switch between energy-conservation and food-seeking states in the cold, the latter of which are primarily driven by energy expenditure rather than the sensation of cold. To identify the neural mechanisms underlying cold-induced food seeking, we used whole-brain c-Fos mapping and found that the xiphoid (Xi), a small nucleus in the midline thalamus, was selectively activated by prolonged cold associated with elevated energy expenditure but not with acute cold exposure. In vivo c

SUBMITTER: Lal NK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10482681 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature