The circuitry behind our 'bad' behaviour
Obesity and sleep deprivation can be linked to the basic instinctive drives of appetite and sleep. Understanding the brain circuits that regulate these instinctive drives will help us to combat social problems like obesity. The EU-funded INSTINCTIVE DRIVES (Orchestration of instinctive drives) initiative aimed to understand the neural signals responsible for instinctive drives and their relationship to health and disease. The researchers set their focus on neurons known to be important in sleep and appetite. Project members wanted to find out how orexin neurons, which control appetite and sleep, generate electrical and chemical signals, and how they interact with each other. They also wanted to relate altered versions of these neurons with diseases of energy balance and sleep. The researchers observed the mechanisms by which orexin neurons generate nerve impulses. They discovered new ways to control the activity of orexin neurons through diet, as well as how they talk to other brain centres. INSTINCTIVE DRIVES found that orexin neurons are overactive in the brains of Huntington's disease sufferers. Researchers also found that a neighbouring population of neurons are REM sleep generators. This research brings us a step closer to understanding sleep and appetite as well as what happens when these drives become dysfunctional.
Keywords
Basic instincts, brain, instinctive drives, obesity, appetite, sleep, orexin neurons
