image: The work of Jennings and colleagues identifies a neural circuit underlying feeding behavior in mice. Using optogenetics to target this neural circuit, the researchers were able to drive and inhibit feeding behavior, respectively, in surprising ways, including to stimulate feeding in well fed mice and to inhibit feeding in hungry mice. This particular image exhibits how stimulation of the neural circuit the researchers identified provoked feeding in mice whose energy requirements had already been met. This image relates to a paper that appeared in the 27 September, 2013, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The paper, by Joshua Jennings at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, N.C., and colleagues was titled, "The Inhibitory Circuit Architecture of the Lateral Hypothalamus Orchestrates Feeding." view more
Credit: [Image courtesy of Josh Jennings]