Oxytocin - a sweet hormone?

在英国，肥胖是一个日益严重的问题。肥胖是能量摄入和能量消耗失衡的结果，但没有简单的解决方案--影响我们饮食的生理、心理、遗传和环境因素很复杂，不同的人有不同的原因，我们需要更好地理解这些因素。人们不太了解的一个方面是，是什么控制着我们的食物选择--例如，我们吃了多少脂肪，吃了多少糖。这不是一个简单的“味道”问题--我们的大脑无意识地监控和调节我们对特定成分和未来喜好的消耗。一个重要的大脑机制是使用神经肽催产素；它的释放被肠道中的糖激活，但被脂肪抑制。催产素是从大脑的下丘脑区域释放出来的，它控制着食欲控制和食物选择的各个方面。下丘脑的一个特征是不同哺乳动物之间的相似之处，因此，对小鼠和大鼠的研究有力地预测了人类的下丘脑功能。该项目将使用实验室大鼠来研究催产素系统如何调节食物选择。为了做到这一点，我们将使用现代技术来控制催产素细胞的活动，以及对催产素敏感的细胞的活动。这可能有助于开发新的方法来帮助那些养成了不健康的饮食习惯的人，这些习惯使他们容易患上糖尿病，方法是“增强”大脑中正常调节特定营养素摄取的系统，改变他们对甜食和高能量食物的偏好。

Obesity is an increasing problem in the UK. Obesity results from an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure, but there is no simple solution - the physiological, psychological, genetic and environmental factors that influence what we eat are complex, and different for different individuals, and we need to understand these better. One facet that is poorly understood is what controls the food choices we make - how much fat we eat, for example, and how much sugar. This isn't a simple matter of "taste" - our brains unconsciously monitor and regulate our consumption of particular components and direct future preferences.One important brain mechanisms uses the neuropeptide oxytocin; its release is activated by sugar in the gut, but inhibited by fat. Oxytocin is released from a brain region called the hypothalamus, and it controls diverse aspects of appetite control and food choice.One feature of the hypothalamus is how similar it is across different mammals, and for this reason, studies in mice and rats are powerfully predictive of hypothalamic functions in humans. This project will use laboratory rats to study how the oxytocin system regulates food choice. To do so we will use modern techniques that allow us to control the activity of oxytocin cells, and also that of the cells which are sensitive to oxytocin. This might help to develop new approaches to help people who have developed unhealthy eating habits that predispose them to diabetes, by "boosting" the systems in the brain that normally regulate the intake of specific nutrients, redirecting their food preferences away from sweet, energy-dense food.