OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE CONTROLS of food intake has increased substantially during the last 30 years. Important in this has been the recognition of the meal as a controlled, physiologically relevant unit of energy intake. During a meal, ingested nutrients accumulate in the stomach and gradually pass to the small intestine. The gastrointestinal presence of nutrients stimulates the release of peptides and neurotransmitters that coordinate gastrointestinal secretion and motility to facilitate digestion. These events can individually, and in concert, produce signals to the brain that lead to meal termination or satiety (28) and thus determine individual meal size. The gut-brain peptide cholecystokinin (CCK) and the monoamine serotonin (5-HT) are two long-recognized agents of satiation. In this issue of the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, Hayes et al. (16) present important new information about how CCK and 5-HT systems interact to promote peripheral mechanisms of satiety.Since the original demonstration (14) that systemic administration of CCK inhibits food intake in rats by reducing meal size and duration, CCK has become the best-characterized satiety factor (24). CCK is released from enteroendocrine cells in the proximal small intestine in response to fat and protein. CCK binds to CCK-1 receptors (also known as CCK-A receptors) to promote meal termination (2). CCK activates CCK-1 receptors on mechanoreceptive vagal afferents from the stomach and duodenum, as well as duodenal chemoreceptive vagal afferents, to directly transmit meal-related feedback signals to the brain (29). CCK also activates CCK-1 receptors in the circular muscle layer of the pylorus, causing it to contract. This slows gastric emptying, resulting in gastric distension and the indirect activation of gastric mechanoreceptive vagal afferents (29).The monoamine 5-HT is produced by platelets, endothelial cells, mast cells, serotonergic neurons, and enterochromaffin cells (13). Its wide distribution in the gastrointestinal tract and vasculature have made 5-HT a strong candidate for involvement in peripheral mechanisms of satiety. Parenteral administration of 5-HT reduces food intake by reducing meal size and duration (11). Like CCK, 5-HT is released from intestinal enteroendocrine cells in response to nutrients (21). In addition, 5-HT is also released in response to gastric distension (22). Gastrointestinal release of 5-HT, like CCK, activates vagal afferent fibers (22,27).Given the complex pharmacology of 5-HT receptor subtypes, and the emphasis on central 5-HT in feeding (5, 6), the identification of roles for specific 5-HT receptors in peripheral mechanisms of feeding control has been challenging. The 5-HT type-3 (5-HT3) receptor was long discounted from having an important role in the control of food intake. Systemic administration of antagonists at 5-HT3 receptors usually produced negative results and occasionally decreased food intake (7, 23, 30, 32). For some time, the only consistent data for...