You always have room for a sugary treat
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Even after eating a big meal, most people can still find space for sweets. Now research in mice shows that the neurons responsible for feelings of fullness are also the ones that trigger sugar cravings. In other words, it seems to be a neurological basis for our love for dessert.
Previous studies have shown that naturally occurring opioids in the brain play a crucial role in sugar cravings. The most important manufacturers of these opioids are neurons located in a brain area that regulates appetite, metabolism and hormones, called the curved core of the hypothalamus. These cells, known as Pro-Oopiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons, also control feelings of metacity after eating.
To understand where the cells have a role in sugar cravings, Henning Fenselau at the Max Planck Institute for Metabolism Research in Germany and his colleagues are traced to the Opioid signals that the POMC cells sent in the brain. They did this by bathing brain slices from three mice in a fluorescent solution that binds to receptors of these opioids.
The brain area with the highest density of these receptors was the paraventricular core of the thalamus (PVT), known for regulating feeding and other behavior. It suggested that sugar cravings we related to communication between these two brain areas – the curved core of the hypothalamus and PVT.
So the researchers monitored the activity of neurons in these regions as mice ate their usual food. After 90 minutes, the animals seemed to be full – they only fucked for additional food. At that time, the team gave them a dessert of sugary chow.
On average, quadrupled neuronal activity between brain areas roughly, while mice ate their dessert compared to what they ate the regular meals. The tip began before they even started eating sweets, suggesting that this brain road dictates sugar cravings.
The researchers confirmed this using a technique to turn on and off cells with light, called Optionnetics. When they inhibited signals from POMC neurons to PVT, the mice consumed 40 per. A hundred less dessert.
“The cell types, which are extremely well known for driving mettle, also released signals that cause the appetite of sugar, and they do so especially in the state of saturation,” says Fenselau. “This would explain why animal-human-over-consume sugar when they are news full.”
We know why this road developed in animals. It may be that sugar is more easily transformed into energy than other sources such as fat or proteins, says Fenselau. Eating dessert thus almost liked to top your gas tank.
He hopes this research can lead to new treatments of obesity, although he recognizes that hunger and urge are complicated in daily life. “There are so Mary other ways in the brain that race could override this. We have found this path, but how it plays with Mary others is something we are donating now at the moment.
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