ArticleNature2012
Deconstruction of a neural circuit for hunger.
Article in Nature, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 563 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
563 citing papers in PubMed, 969 citations in OpenAlex.
- Nutritional state-dependent changes in subcortical limbic structures in anorexia nervosa are linked to leptin, ghrelin, and neurofilament light.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
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- Brain-wide activity mapping reveals the somatosensory cortex as a sex-specific regulator of hedonic feeding.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Hypothalamic prolactin receptorNature communications · 2026Article
- Neural circuits regulating activity-based anorexia.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Emerging role of AgRP neurons as integrators of metabolic, sensory and environmental cues in the control of energy homeostasis.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2026Review
- Altered responses to ghrelin and food cues in AgRP neurons during pregnancy and lactation.Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2026Article
- Hypothalamic regulation of energy homeostasis: Quo vadis.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2026Review
- LEAP2 as a therapeutic target in obesity and cardiometabolic disorders.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2026Review
- Spatial organization and sex differences of paraventricular hypothalamic oxytocin neurons projecting to distinct brain regions.Brain structure & function · 2026Article
- GABAergic ventrolateral preoptic projection to dorsomedial hypothalamus recapitulates post-ischemic neuroprotection by hypothermia.Cell death & disease · 2026Article
- A spatial and projection-based transcriptomic atlas of paraventricular hypothalamic cell types.Cell reports · 2026Article
- THIK-1 channel mediates microglial glucose sensing and modulates AgRP neurons.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Differential effects of overexpression of mutant huntingtin and TDP-43 in agouti-related protein neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus in mice.Acta neuropathologica communications · 2025Article
- Article
- Aging reveals divergent responses of AgRP/NPY neurons to diet in male and female mice.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Central leptin pathways in metabolic homeostasis.Clinical science (London, England : 1979) · 2025Review
- Imbalanced Innervation of the Hypothalamic Paraventricular Nucleus by the AgRP and α-Melanocyte-Stimulating Hormone Axonal Projections in Germ-Free Mice.Developmental neuroscience · 2025Article
- Oxytocin neurons drive melanocortin circuit maturation via vesicle release during a neonatal critical period.PLoS biology · 2025Article
503 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Hunger is a complex behavioural state that elicits intense food seeking and consumption. These behaviours are rapidly recapitulated by activation of starvation-sensitive AGRP neurons, which present an entry point for reverse-engineering neural circuits for hunger. Here we mapped synaptic interactions of AGRP neurons with multiple cell populations in mice and probed the contribution of these distinct circuits to feeding behaviour using optogenetic and pharmacogenetic techniques. An inhibitory circuit with paraventricular hypothalamus (PVH) neurons substantially accounted for acute AGRP neuron-evoked eating, whereas two other prominent circuits were insufficient. Within the PVH, we found that AGRP neurons target and inhibit oxytocin neurons, a small population that is selectively lost in Prader-Willi syndrome, a condition involving insatiable hunger. By developing strategies for evaluating molecularly defined circuits, we show that AGRP neuron suppression of oxytocin neurons is critical for evoked feeding. These experiments reveal a new neural circuit that regulates hunger state and pathways associated with overeating disorders.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.