ArticleNature communications2020
Optogenetic stimulation of the liver-projecting melanocortinergic pathway promotes hepatic glucose production.
Article in Nature communications, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 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.
The trial behind it
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
44 citing papers in PubMed, 59 citations in OpenAlex.
- Hepatic neurons and metabolically induced liver dysfunction.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2026Review
- Small-Conductance CaNeuroscience bulletin · 2026Review
- Hypothalamic Control of Liver Health and Disease: From Circuits to Pathophysiology and Therapies.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- The microbiota-gut-brain axis: novel mechanisms and therapeutic frontiers in obesity and type 2 diabetes.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Review
- Hypothalamic astrocytes: connecting brain and periphery in metabolic control.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2026Review
- Optogenetic activation of liver-innervating vagal sensory neurons increases anxiety-like behavior in mice.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Liver-pancreas communication in disease and drug development.Acta pharmaceutica Sinica. B · 2026Review
- Liver Innervation in Health and Disease: Neuroimmune-Neurovascular Interface and Future Therapeutic Implications.Biomedicines · 2025Review
- Molecular and functional diversity of the autonomic nervous system.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2025Review
- Accessing the viscera: Technologies for interoception research.Current opinion in neurobiology · 2025Review
- Reduced liver mitochondrial energy metabolism impairs food intake regulation following gastric preloads and fasting.Molecular metabolism · 2025Article
- Vagus nerve modulates acute-on-chronic liver failure progression via CXCL9.Chinese medical journal · 2025Article
- Insulin activates parasympathetic hepatic-related neurons of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus through mTOR signaling.Journal of neurophysiology · 2025Article
- Article
- Central and peripheral neural circuits regulating glucose homeostasis.npj biomedical innovations · 2025Review
- Brain-Body Communication in Glucose Metabolism.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2025Review
- Review
- Brain-acting hepatokines: its impact on energy balance and metabolism.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Review
- Liver adrenoceptor alpha-1b plays a key role in energy and glucose homeostasis in female mice.American journal of physiology. Endocrinology and metabolism · 2024Article
- Effects of Different Photoperiods on Growth Performance, Glucose Metabolism, Acetylcholine, and Its Relative Acetylcholine Receptor Modulation in Broiler Chickens.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The central melanocortin system plays a fundamental role in the control of feeding and body weight. Proopiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus (ARC) also regulate overall glucose homeostasis via insulin-dependent and -independent pathways. Here, we report that a subset of ARC POMC neurons innervate the liver via preganglionic parasympathetic acetylcholine (ACh) neurons in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (DMV). Optogenetic stimulation of this liver-projecting melanocortinergic pathway elevates blood glucose levels that is associated with increased expression of hepatic gluconeogenic enzymes in female and male mice. Pharmacological blockade and knockdown of the melanocortin-4 receptor gene in the DMV abolish this stimulation-induced effect. Activation of melanocortin-4 receptors inhibits DMV cholinergic neurons and optogenetic inhibition of liver-projecting parasympathetic cholinergic fibers increases blood glucose levels. This elevated blood glucose is not due to altered pancreatic hormone release. Interestingly, insulin-induced hypoglycemia increases ARC POMC neuron activity. Hence, this liver-projecting melanocortinergic circuit that we identified may play a critical role in the counterregulatory response to hypoglycemia.
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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.