A PVH-to-parabrachial BDNF circuit mediates non-aversive feeding suppression
- 1University of Florida
Abstract
Parabrachial nucleus (PBN) CGRP neurons mediate aversive feeding suppression, but PBN circuitry governing homeostatic, non-aversive feeding suppression remains poorly understood. Here, we identify a circuit in which paraventricular hypothalamus (PVH) neurons innervate BDNF-expressing ventrolateral/dorsolateral PBN (vl/dlPBNBDNF) neurons, which project to multiple hypothalamic nuclei. Refeeding strengthens excitatory and weakens inhibitory synaptic transmission in LPBN-projecting PVH neurons and preferentially induced Bdnf and Fos in vl/dlPBNBDNF neurons compared with elPBNCGRP neurons, whereas noxious LPS preferentially activated elPBNCGRP neurons. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments demonstrated that vl/dlPBNBDNF neurons are sufficient and necessary for feeding suppression without inducing conditioned taste aversion and that this effect require BDNF-TrkB signaling. In addition to hypothalamic inputs, vl/dlPBNBDNF neurons receive dense inputs from major downstream targets of elPBNCGRP neurons. Thus, vl/dlPBNBDNF neurons define a non-aversive feeding-suppression circuit positioned to integrate hypothalamic homeostatic signals with aversive signals, thereby coordinating food intake with internal energy needs and potentially harmful physiological conditions.
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BibTeX
@misc{an2026pvhtoparabrachial,
title = {{A PVH-to-parabrachial BDNF circuit mediates non-aversive feeding suppression}},
author = {J. J. An and J.-W. Tan and Y. Chen and X. Yue and B. Xu},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.23.753813},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753813v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A PVH-to-parabrachial BDNF circuit mediates non-aversive feeding suppression
AU - J. J. An
AU - J.-W. Tan
AU - Y. Chen
AU - X. Yue
AU - B. Xu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.23.753813
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753813v1
AB - Parabrachial nucleus (PBN) CGRP neurons mediate aversive feeding suppression, but PBN circuitry governing homeostatic, non-aversive feeding suppression remains poorly understood. Here, we identify a circuit in which paraventricular hypothalamus (PVH) neurons innervate BDNF-expressing ventrolateral/dorsolateral PBN (vl/dlPBNBDNF) neurons, which project to multiple hypothalamic nuclei. Refeeding strengthens excitatory and weakens inhibitory synaptic transmission in LPBN-projecting PVH neurons and preferentially induced Bdnf and Fos in vl/dlPBNBDNF neurons compared with elPBNCGRP neurons, whereas noxious LPS preferentially activated elPBNCGRP neurons. Gain- and loss-of-function experiments demonstrated that vl/dlPBNBDNF neurons are sufficient and necessary for feeding suppression without inducing conditioned taste aversion and that this effect require BDNF-TrkB signaling. In addition to hypothalamic inputs, vl/dlPBNBDNF neurons receive dense inputs from major downstream targets of elPBNCGRP neurons. Thus, vl/dlPBNBDNF neurons define a non-aversive feeding-suppression circuit positioned to integrate hypothalamic homeostatic signals with aversive signals, thereby coordinating food intake with internal energy needs and potentially harmful physiological conditions.
ER -