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Updated: May 11, 2026
12:09
Studying Food Reward and Motivation in Humans
Published on: March 19, 2014
Ghrelin, reward and motivation.
John R W Menzies1, Karolina P Skibicka, Gareth Leng
1Centre for Integrative Physiology, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH8 9XD, UK. john.menzies@ed.ac.uk
Endocrine Development
|May 9, 2013
Summary
Ghrelin, a gut hormone, signals hunger and increases food intake by acting on the hypothalamus. It also influences brain reward pathways, impacting food preference and reward.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Endocrinology
- Physiology
Background:
- Gut peptides primarily signal satiety, regulating food intake.
- Ghrelin is a unique orexigenic peptide hormone, stimulating appetite.
- Ghrelin levels rise before meals, indicating its role in hunger signaling.
Purpose of the Study:
- To discuss ghrelin's dual role in homeostatic and hedonic feeding control.
- To explore ghrelin's function as an endocrine gut-brain reward signal.
- To elucidate the mechanisms by which ghrelin influences food intake and reward.
Main Methods:
- Review of behavioral and electrophysiological evidence.
- Analysis of ghrelin's action in hypothalamic homeostatic pathways.
- Investigation of ghrelin's interaction with brain reward pathways.
Main Results:
- Ghrelin acts in the hypothalamus via homeostatic pathways to signal hunger.
- Ghrelin increases food intake and adiposity.
- Ghrelin modulates brain reward pathways, affecting food preference and reward.
Conclusions:
- Ghrelin is a dynamically regulated peripheral hunger signal.
- Ghrelin functions as an endocrine gut-brain reward signal.
- Ghrelin plays a critical role in both homeostatic and hedonic feeding regulation.
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