The role of peripheral metabolic signals in neural reward mechanisms

最后一口食物还在你的餐盘里。你犹豫了一下，但尽管感觉很饱，你还是设法吃了最后一口。你的盘子干净了，你的饥饿得到了满足。你的眼睛扫过甜点菜单，没有再吃东西的意识。对美味佳肴所带来的新奇感官体验的期待让你振作起来，在你意识到之前，你又吞下了一口。美味食物的奖励作用不仅可以驱使我们在饥饿和需要补充能量储存时吃东西，而且可以在能量充足的饱腹感状态下吃东西。大脑中的哪些机制负责激励我们食用富含脂肪和糖的食物？我们的工作探索了食物动机和其他调节体重行为的神经通路。膳食来源的脂质营养素，如多不饱和ω-3脂肪酸，在神经信号和行为过程中起着重要作用，包括食物奖励。我们的目标是揭示omega-3脂肪酸缺乏对奖励，情绪和能量平衡产生有害影响的机制。 当我们面临与营养有关的疾病的健康、社会和经济后果时，阐明调节食物动机的机制仍然是一个重要目标。

One last morsel of food remains on your dinner plate. You hesitate but in spite of feeling full you manage to eat the last bite. Your plate is clean and your hunger is satisfied. Without a conscious thought of eating anything more your eyes glance over the dessert menu. The anticipation of the novel sensory experience presented by the tasty treats makes you perk-up, and before you know it you are devouring another mouthful. The rewarding effects of palatable foods can drive us to eat not only when we are hungry and need to replenish energy stores but also in states of satiety when energy is replete. Which mechanisms in the brain are responsible for motivating us to consume foods rich in fat and sugar? Our work explores the neural pathways that underlie motivation for food and other behaviours that regulate body weight. Dietary-derived lipid nutrients such as polyunsaturated omega-3 fatty acids play a signifcant role in neural signaling and behavioral processes including food reward. Our goal is to uncover the mechanisms by which omega-3 fatty acid deficiency on has deleterious effects on reward, emotions and energy balance. As we are confronted with the health, social and economic consequences of nutritionally-related illnesses, elucidating the mechanisms that regulate motivation for food remains an important goal.