In the event of a win, the hypothalamus may chip in, too, with a feel-good dose of dopamine.
The ill-fated diet drug fenfluramine, for example, stimulated dopamine release within the hypothalamus and had the paradoxical effect of reducing appetite.
The hypothalamus reacts to ghrelin, a hormone excreted by an empty stomach, by releasing appetite-stimulating neurotransmitters into other parts of the brain.
In another experiment the researchers wake up sleeping mice by sending a light signal to the hypothalamus, the brain's controller of sleep-wake cycles.
But anybody who has ever fallen in love knows that love is not just an elevated level of some peptide in the hypothalamus.
Lorcaserin works by stimulating a serotonin receptor in the hypothalamus, a part of the brain linked to the control of satiety and metabolism.
Since the hypothalamus is associated with hunger and metabolism, the team speculated that the neurons may be linked in some way to weight gain.
FORBES: The Top 10 Brain Science and Psychology Stories of 2012
Scientists still don't know exactly how the hypothalamus communicates with the cerebral cortex, the site of conscious thought, although dopamine is believed to play a role.
Closer examination of the a part of the brain called the hypothalamus, which is known to be involved in energy regulation, revealed the protein present there too.
Researchers looked in detail at the hypothalamus section of the brain, which is known to regulate sleep, energy expenditure, appetite, thirst and many other critical biological functions.
Body weight is controlled mostly by the hypothalamus, a structure at the center of the brain that fine-tunes metabolism to a level that no conscious calorie-counter could match.
The hypothalamus also has connections to the cortex via the striatum and the nucleus accumbens, a structure that secretes its own dopamine and opioids in response to food (see graphic).
The research team then wanted to find out what these neurons do, so they studied the new hypothalamus neurons in mice that had been fed a high fat diet since birth.
FORBES: The Top 10 Brain Science and Psychology Stories of 2012
They found that the chemical appeared in rapidly proliferating cells called tanycytes in the hypothalamus, and further tests confirmed that the tanycytes specifically produced new neurons and not other types 0f cells.
FORBES: The Top 10 Brain Science and Psychology Stories of 2012
He says there is mounting evidence that in some people, neurons in the hypothalamus that should recognize when the body has stored sufficient fat and either cut food intake or boost energy expenditure aren't working properly.
Now, a study has uncovered a third part of the brain that, at least in mice, shows positive signs of neurogenesis: the hypothalamus, associated with body temperature, metabolism, sleep, hunger, thirst and a few other critical functions.
FORBES: The Top 10 Brain Science and Psychology Stories of 2012
Palatin Technologies, in partnership with King Pharmaceuticals, is in middle-stage trials (Phase II of a total of three) to research another nasal-sprayed chemical, PT-141, which stimulates the hypothalamus' melanocortin receptors, which are responsible for hunger and may have a more potent arousal effect.
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