Publications by authors named "Paula K Zhu"
Article Synopsis
- Neuropeptides play a crucial role in brain functions related to feeding and behavior, but many details about their interactions in the awake brain remain unclear.
- The study focuses on how specific neurons in the hypothalamus react to different neuropeptides to regulate eating and the feeling of fullness.
- Results show that the release of hunger-related and satiety-related neuropeptides can either compete or cooperate to control important signaling pathways, helping to gradually promote feelings of fullness during meals.
We investigated how transmission of hunger- and satiety-promoting neuropeptides, NPY and αMSH, is integrated at the level of intracellular signaling to control feeding. Receptors for these peptides use the second messenger cAMP. How cAMP integrates opposing peptide signals to regulate energy balance, and the spatiotemporal dynamics of endogenous peptidergic signaling, remain largely unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- * NPY release decreases levels of cAMP in certain brain neurons, while αMSH release increases cAMP, showing that both neuropeptides regulate this messenger in competitive and state-dependent ways.
- * When eating occurs, high levels of αMSH and low levels of NPY work together to maintain higher cAMP levels, ultimately promoting a sense of fullness over time.
How neuromodulatory transmitters diffuse into the extracellular space remains an unsolved fundamental biological question, despite wide acceptance of the volume transmission model. Here, we report development of a method combining genetically encoded fluorescent sensors with high-resolution imaging and analysis algorithms which permits the first direct visualization of neuromodulatory transmitter diffusion at various neuronal and non-neuronal cells. Our analysis reveals that acetylcholine and monoamines diffuse at individual release sites with a spread length constant of ∼0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF