Zona Incerta Stimulation Provokes Instant Binge Eating in Mice



The neuronal control of appetite and food intake is among the most complex and fascinating systems.

Now, in a paper published in Science, Xiaobing Zhang and Anthony van den Pol from Yale University, New Haven, report the identification of a novel role of the zona incerta in inducing profound binge eating behaviour in mice.

The zona incerta, is a little know part of the central nervous system within the subthalamus with extensive projections all the way from the cerebral cortex into the spinal cord. It is thought to play an important role in limbic-motor integration as well as synchronizing brain rhythms.

The researchers showed that optogenetic stimulation of zona incerta GABA neurons or their axonal projections to paraventricular thalamus excitatory neurons rsults in an immediate (in 2 to 3 seconds) binge-like eating behaviour – the animals ate up to 35% of their total energy requirements in just 10 mins.

Furthermore, while intermittent stimulation of these neurons led to body weight gain, ablation reduced weight.

The authors suggest that the identification of this novel orexigenic system may lead to better treatments not just for binge-eating disorder.

@DrSharma
Edmonton, AB