Central somatostatin signaling and regulation of food intake

• Published in: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Vol. 1455; no. 1; pp. 98 - 104
• Main Authors: Stengel, Andreas, Taché, Yvette
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-11-2019
• Subjects: Animals; Brain; brain–gut; Central nervous system; drinking; Energy Intake; feeding; Food intake; food intake microstructure; Growth hormones; homeostasis; Hormone release; Humans; Hypothalamus; Menopause; Neuropeptides; Receptors; Receptors, Somatostatin - metabolism; Rodents; Signal Transduction; Signaling; Somatostatin; Somatostatin - metabolism; Water intake; Water intakes; homeostasis; brain-gut; drinking; food intake microstructure; feeding
• ISSN: 0077-8923; 1749-6632
• DOI: 10.1111/nyas.14178

The discovery of somatostatin (SST) in the hypothalamus implicated the peptide in the inhibition of growth hormone release. However, as observed for numerous neuropeptides, SST was neither restricted to this one brain site nor to this one function. Subsequent studies established a widespread but specific expression of SST in the central nervous system of rodents and humans along with the expression patterns of five receptors (sst1–5). Among biological actions, the activation of central SST signaling induced a robust stimulation of food and water intake, which is mediated by the sst2 as assessed using selective sst agonists. The past years have witnessed the identification of brain SST circuitries involved using chemogenetic and optogenetic approaches and further established a physiological orexigenic role of brain SST signaling. The present review will discuss these recent findings.
The current review will present the latest development on the food intake–modulating effects of central somatostatin signaling and brain circuitries involved.