The role of corticostriatal–hypothalamic neural circuits in feeding behaviour: implications for obesity

Abstract

Emerging evidence from human imaging studies suggests that obese individuals have altered connectivity between the hypothalamus, the key brain region controlling energy homeostasis, and cortical regions involved in decision-making and reward processing. Historically, animal studies have demonstrated that the lateral hypothalamus is the key hypothalamic region involved in feeding and reward. The lateral hypothalamus is a heterogeneous structure comprised of several distinct types of neurons which are scattered throughout. In addition, the lateral hypothalamus receives inputs from a number of cortical brain regions suggesting that it is uniquely positioned to be a key integrator of cortical information and metabolic feedback. In this review, we summarize how human brain imaging can inform detailed animal studies to investigate neural pathways connecting cortical regions and the hypothalamus. Here, we discuss key cortical brain regions that are reciprocally connected to the lateral hypothalamus and are implicated in decision-making processes surrounding food.

A Systematic Review of Obesity and Binge Eating Associated Impairment of the Cognitive Inhibition System

“…Located in the inferior part of the frontal lobe, the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), known to be involved in encoding reward value and decision-making ( 63 ), plays a major role in the value attributed to food and subsequent eating behavior. More precisely, the lateral OFC encodes the objective nutritive value of food and integrates it within the medial OFC, which will in turn attribute the subjective value of the food item ( 64 ).…”

“…As part of the gustatory cortex ( 98 ), the insula is known to play a role in smell and taste processing, as well as in fat detection ( 63 ). The insula is also a crucial region for homeostatic regulation, with its external input and expected reward integration function ( 99 ).…”

“…Besides forming an integral part of the limbic system, the anterior cingulate cortex is often considered as belonging to the frontal cortex ( 107 ) and associated inhibitory control networks ( 108 , 109 ). Playing a major role in palatable food salience attribution and subsequent decision-making ( 63 ), the anterior cingulate cortex was demonstrated to be involved in the regulation of food craving and to be related to BMI. Specifically, He et al ( 46 ) and Giuliani et al ( 80 ) reported a negative correlation between anterior cingulate cortex activations and BMI during a food-related inhibition task.…”

Association between childhood trauma and risk for obesity: a putative neurocognitive developmental pathway

“…The FPC cluster we identified is located in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC; mainly BA24, BA25, BA32, and BA10) [ 8 ], and this network provides the origin of most of frontal projections to the hypothalamus in both rats [ 73 ] and monkeys [ 9 ]. It has long been hypothesized that the communication between the hypothalamus and the cortical regions may influence food choices, based on the observations that the reward value of food can be influenced by metabolic state [ 74 ]. Human resting-state functional connectivity has been reported between the PFC and the hypothalamus [ 75 ], and there is evidence for structural connectivity between these regions in the primate brain [ 9 ], but this has not yet been confirmed for the human brain due to the small volume of the hypothalamus and the complexity of its connectivity [ 76 , 77 ].…”

Notoginsenoside Fe suppresses diet induced obesity and activates paraventricular hypothalamic neurons

“…1,2 A common feature of most obese individuals is overconsumption of food, resulting in energy imbalance between calorie intake and consumption. 3,4 Thus, suppression of feeding has been one of the major focuses of antiobesity pharmacotherapy investigation for decades. However, most commercial anti-obesity drugs have limited efficacy and are hampered by their serious side effects.…”