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Updated: Apr 20, 2026

Studying the Hypothalamic Insulin Signal to Peripheral Glucose Intolerance with a Continuous Drug Infusion System into the Mouse Brain
Published on: January 4, 2018
A parabrachial-hypothalamic cholecystokinin neurocircuit controls counterregulatory responses to hypoglycemia
Alastair S Garfield1, Bhavik P Shah2, Joseph C Madara2
1Centre for Integrative Physiology, Hugh Robson Building, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9XD, UK; Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Abstract:
Hypoglycemia engenders an autonomically mediated counterregulatory (CR)-response that stimulates endogenous glucose production to maintain concentrations within an appropriate physiological range. Although the involvement of the brain in preserving normoglycemia has been established, the neurocircuitry underlying centrally mediated CR-responses remains unclear. Here we demonstrate that lateral parabrachial nucleus cholecystokinin (CCK(LPBN)) neurons are a population of glucose-sensing cells (glucose inhibited) with counterregulatory capacity. Furthermore, we reveal that steroidogenic-factor 1 (SF1)-expressing neurons of the ventromedial nucleus of the hypothalamus (SF1(VMH)) are the specific target of CCK(LPBN) glucoregulatory neurons. This discrete CCK(LPBN)→SF1(VMH) neurocircuit is both necessary and sufficient for the induction of CR-responses. Together, these data identify CCK(LPBN) neurons, and specifically CCK neuropeptide, as glucoregulatory and provide significant insight into the homeostatic mechanisms controlling CR-responses to hypoglycemia.
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