Internal medicine

Neuroscience

Receptor

Arcuate nucleus

Biology

Neuropeptide

Endocrinology

Chemistry

Hypothalamus

Orexigenic

Third ventricle

Food intake

Neuropeptide Y receptor

Channelrhodopsin

Optogenetics

Medicine

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Significance Tanycytes are nutrient-sensing cells that line the third ventricle within the hypothalamus. The role of tanycytes in the regulation of food intake has not been documented. Indeed, the mechanistic link between nutrient concentrations in the CSF and activation of neurons responsible for the regulation of food intake, such as orexigenic (NPY/AgRP) or anorexigenic (POMC) cells, is not yet clear. Here, we demonstrate that tanycytes, engineered to express channelrhodopsin, can activate arcuate neurons to induce acute hyperphagia when activated by light. These data provide further evidence that tanycytes are an integral link between CSF nutrients and the hypothalamic neuronal networks that regulate appetite and energy balance.

Hypothalamic tanycytes generate acute hyperphagia through activation of the arcuate neuronal network