Researchers at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine have identified which of the brain’s cellular connections trigger overeating. In the 1950s, scientists stimulated the brain’s lateral hypothalamus region, knowing that they were stimulating a number of brain cells. The most recent study at UNC focuses on the gaba neurons in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), which linked the amygdala (the area of the brain associated with emotion) to the lateral hypothalamus, an area that drives eating, aggression and sexual behavior. In a mouse model study, scientists found that after shining light on BNST synapses, the mice ate voraciously even after being fed.

“The study underscores that obesity and other eating disorders have a neurological basis,” said senior study author Garret Stuber, PhD, assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and department of cell biology and physiology. Click here to read the full story.