Hunger-promoting AgRP neurons trigger an astrocyte-mediated feed-forward autoactivation loop in mice.

ABSTRACT: Hypothalamic feeding circuits have been identified as having innate synaptic plasticity, mediating adaption to the changing metabolic milieu by controlling responses to feeding and obesity. However, less is known about the regulatory principles underlying the dynamic changes in agouti-related protein (AgRP) perikarya, a region crucial for gating of neural excitation and, hence, feeding. Here we show that AgRP neurons activated by food deprivation, ghrelin administration, or chemogenetics decreased their own inhibitory tone while triggering mitochondrial adaptations in neighboring astrocytes. We found that it was the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA released by AgRP neurons that evoked this astrocytic response; this in turn resulted in increased glial ensheetment of AgRP perikarya by glial

SUBMITTER: Varela L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8121506 | biostudies-literature | 2021 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature