Gut-brain communication of nutrient information

项目总结/摘要 这个项目的长期目标是揭示肠-脑轴如何在特定的营养物质中调节食欲。 方式在哺乳动物中，胃肠道中的肠内分泌细胞释放一系列神经肽， 调节食物摄入量。然而，目前尚不清楚营养物质是如何由肠道神经肽代表的。的 这里概述的研究利用了解剖学的简单性和强大的遗传工具包， 果蝇来解决大量营养素-碳水化合物，氨基酸和脂肪酸- 被转化为神经肽代码，以及营养信息如何被处理以调节食欲。 这项拟议的研究重点是肠道神经肽-它们代表什么样的常量营养素（目标1），以及它们是否 它们是促性腺激素（Aim 2）。在目标3中，我们将检验以下假设： 激素不仅代表氨基酸的数量，也代表氨基酸的质量。这些研究的结果 预计将建立一个神经肽代码的宏量营养素提供机械的见解，如何食物 摄入量以特定营养素的方式调节。这些见解与人类健康高度相关， 通过设计饮食来减少食物摄入量可以为对抗肥胖流行病提供新的途径

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The long-term goal of this project is to uncover how the gut-brain axis regulates appetite in a nutrient-specific manner. In mammals, enteroendocrine cells in the gastrointestinal tract release a repertoire neuropeptides to regulate food intake. However, it is not clear how nutrients are represented by gut neuropeptides. The research outlined here takes advantage of the anatomical simplicity and the powerful genetic toolkit of the Drosophila to address the questions of how macronutrients — carbohydrates, amino acids and fatty acids — are transformed into a neuropeptide code and how nutritional information is processed to regulate appetite. The proposed study focuses on gut neuropeptide — what macronutrients they represent (Aim 1) and whether they are anorexigenic hormones (Aim 2). In Aim 3, we will test the hypothesis that the level of an anorexigenic hormone represents not only the quantity but also the quality of amino acids. Results from these studies are expected to establish a neuropeptide code for macronutrients providing mechanistic insights into how food intake is regulated in a nutrient-specific manner. These insights are highly relevant to human health as reducing food intake by designed diets could provide a new avenue to fight the obesity epidemic