Somatostatin Neurons in the Basal Forebrain Promote High-Calo

AAVs of tracing helper and RV were used for retrograde monosynaptic tracing. (From BrainVTA)

The viruses used from BrainVTA in this article are in the table below

Tracing Helper	AAV-DIO-EGFP-TVA AAV-DIO-RG
RV	SADDG-dsRed

Chen Zhu, Yun Yao, Yan Xiong, Mingxiu Cheng, Jing Chen, Rui Zhao, Fangzhou Liao, Runsheng Shi, Sen Song
Pub Date: 2017-07-05, DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.06.007, Email: [email protected]

Obesity has become a global issue, and the overconsumption of food is thought to be a major contributor. However, the regulatory neural circuits that regulate palatable food consumption remain unclear. Here, we report that somatostatin (SOM) neurons and GABAergic (VGAT) neurons in the basal forebrain (BF) play specific roles in regulating feeding. Optogenetic stimulation of BF SOM neurons increased fat and sucrose intake within minutes and promoted anxiety-like behaviors. Furthermore, optogenetic stimulation of projections from BF SOM neurons to the lateral hypothalamic area (LHA) selectively resulted in fat intake. In addition, activation of BF VGAT neurons rapidly induced general food intake and gnawing behaviors. Whole-brain mapping of inputs and outputs showed that BF SOM neurons form bidirectional connections with several brain areas important in feeding and regulation of emotion. Collectively, these results suggest that BF SOM neurons play a selective role in hedonic feeding.

Figure 1. SOM and VGAT Neurons Receive Different Inputs but Target Similar Downstream Regions.

This study is aimed to explore the regulatory neural circuits that regulate palatable food consumption. In this study, the authors found that activation of VGAT neurons in VP induced food intake of both high-fat chow and standard chow immediately, while activating BF SOM neurons selectively induced high-calorie food intake (high-fat chow and high sucrose water) within minutes. Furthermore, the projections from SOM neurons to the LHA induced high-fat intake without inducing high sucrose preference. Stimulation of SOM neurons also induced anxiety-like behaviors.

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