Investigating appetite control by G protein-coupled receptors

National Institute Of Diabetes And Digestive And Kidney Diseases

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

The purpose of this project is to understand the key cellular and neural circuit mechanisms by which pharmacological activation of G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling controls eating especially when foods are palatable and engage addiction-associated neural circuits. We hypothesize that GPCR signaling changes with chronic pharmacological anti-obesity treatment and that more precise combinations of pharmacological agents may enhance the efficacy of these treatments. We use quantitative fluorescence measurements including fluorescence lifetime of genetically encoded biosensors to track GPCR signaling over weeks in the same neuronal populations in awake behaving mice. We investigate how obesity and chronic anti-obesity treatments impact this GPCR signaling. This year, the lab focused on acquiring and building equipment to allow for fluorescence lifetime microscopy and photometry. This equipment will allow us to reliably measure GPCR signaling across many weeks and make quantitative measurements of the potency of anti-obesity treatments with chronic administration. Importantly, we recruited a team of capable scientists and began working on establishing the reagents to allow us to perform fluorescence microscopy approaches with highly sensitive biosensors in specific neural circuits.