Neuro-hormonal control of food intake: basic mechanisms and clinical implications

Obesity is one of the most common metabolic diseases and the greatest threats of the health because of possibility of numerous complications. In order to design effective drugs or apply the helpful surgical procedure it is essential to understand physiology of appetite control and pathophysiology of obesity. According to the first law of thermodynamics, the energy input in the form of food, equals energy expenditure through exercise, basal metabolism, thermogenesis and fat biosynthesis. The control of body weight actually concerns the control of adipose tissue with the key role of hypothalamus, possessing several neuronal centers such as that in lateral hypothalamic nuclei considered to be "hunger" center and in ventromedial nuclei serving as the "satiety" center. In addition, paraventricular and arcuate hypothalamic nuclei (ARC) are the sites where multiple hormones, released from the gut and adipose tissue, converge to regulate food intake and energy expenditure. There are two distinct types of neurons in ARC that are important in control of food intake; (1) preopiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons activated by an orexigenic hormones and releasing alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) in satiety center and (2) neurons activated by orexigenic peptides such as ghrelin that release the substances including neuropeptide Y (NPY) and Agouti-Related Peptide (AgRP) in hunger center. ARC integrates neural (mostly vagal) and humoral inputs such as enteropeptides including orexigenic (ghrelin and orexins) and an orexigenic peptides (cholecystokinin, polypeptide YY, glucagon-like peptide-1, oxyntomodulin, leptin and others) that exert a physiological role in regulating appetite and satiety. The peripherally (gut, adipose tissue) and centrally expressed modulators of appetitive behavior act through specific receptors in the afferent (mostly vagal) nerves and hypothalamic neurons implicated in adiposity signaling and regulation of food intake.