Grant: Operating Grant

One last morsel of food remains on your dinner plate. You hesitate but in spite of feeling full you manage to manage to eat the last bite. Your plate is clean and your hunger satisfied. Without a conscious thought of eating anything more your eyes glance over the dessert menu. The anticipation of the novel sensory experience presented by these tasty desserts makes you perk-up and before you know it you are devouring another mouthful. The rewarding effects of palatable foods can drive us to eat even when we are feeling full. Which mechanisms in the brain are responsible for motivating us to consume foods rich in fat and sugar? Our work explores the neural pathways that underlie motivation for food and other behaviors linked to energy balance. We and others have demonstrated how hormonal signals like leptin can act in the midbrain to influence food intake and the mesolimbic dopamine system, a pathway well implicated in the rewarding effects of drugs of abuse and natural stimuli. Our goal is to identify the mechanisms by which hormonal and nutrient signals influence dopamine circuitry and motivated behavior. As we are confronted with the health, social and economic consequences of obesity and obesity-related illnesses, elucidating the mechanisms that regulate motivation for food remains an important goal.