ArticleFrontiers in endocrinology2021
Leptin Receptor Expressing Neurons in the Substantia Nigra Regulate Locomotion, and in The Ventral Tegmental Area Motivation and Feeding.
Article in Frontiers in endocrinology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Leptin Reduces Running in a Rodent Anorexia Nervosa Model via a Distributed Neural Network.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2026Article
- An interoceptive model of energy allostasis linking metabolic and mental health.Science advances · 2025Review
- Nutritionally Responsive PMv DAT Neurons Are Dynamically Regulated During Pubertal Transition.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2025Article
- Examining Weight Suppression, Leptin Levels, Glucagon-Like Peptide 1 Response, and Reward-Related Constructs in Severity and Maintenance of Bulimic Syndromes: Protocol and Sample Characteristics for a Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Study.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Nutritionally responsive PMv DAT neurons are dynamically regulated during pubertal transition.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Chronic stress modulates the expression level of leptin and leptin receptors in the hypothalamus of male rats with a history of maternal stress.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2024Article
- Microbiota-gut-brain axis and its therapeutic applications in neurodegenerative diseases.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2024Review
- Expression of guanylate cyclase C in human prefrontal cortex depends on sex and feeding status.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2024Article
- Influence of leptin and its receptors on individuals under chronic social stress behavior.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024Article
- Metabolic hormone action in the VTA: Reward-directed behavior and mechanistic insights.Physiology & behavior · 2023Review
- Review
- Melanocortin receptor 3 and 4 mRNA expression in the adult female Syrian hamster brain.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2023Article
- Leptin signaling and leptin resistance.Medical review (2021) · 2022Review
- The PACAP Paradox: Dynamic and Surprisingly Pleiotropic Actions in the Central Regulation of Energy Homeostasis.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Leptin is an anorexigenic hormone, important in the regulation of body weight. Leptin plays a role in food reward, feeding, locomotion and anxiety. Leptin receptors (LepR) are expressed in many brain areas, including the midbrain. In most studies that target the midbrain, either all LepR neurons of the midbrain or those of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) were targeted, but the role of substantia nigra (SN) LepR neurons has not been investigated. These studies have reported contradicting results regarding motivational behavior for food reward, feeding and locomotion. Since not all midbrain LepR mediated behaviors can be explained by LepR neurons in the VTA alone, we hypothesized that SN LepR neurons may provide further insight. We first characterized SN LepR and VTA LepR expression, which revealed LepR expression mainly on DA neurons. To further understand the role of midbrain LepR neurons in body weight regulation, we chemogenetically activated VTA LepR or SN LepR neurons in LepR-cre mice and tested for motivational behavior, feeding and locomotion. Activation of VTA LepR neurons in food restricted mice decreased motivation for food reward (p=0.032) and food intake (p=0.020), but not locomotion. In contrast, activation of SN LepR neurons in food restricted mice decreased locomotion (p=0.025), but not motivation for food reward or food intake. Our results provide evidence that VTA LepR and SN LepR neurons serve different functions, i.e. activation of VTA LepR neurons modulated motivation for food reward and feeding, while SN LepR neurons modulated locomotor activity.
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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.