UT Southwestern scientists unravel brain-hormone circuit that helps police diabetes, female fertility

New findings by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers suggest that the hormones leptin and insulin work together in specific neurons in the hypothalamus region of the brain to affect both the regulation of blood sugar levels in the body and, surprisingly, female fertility.

"Many people, and even many physicians, think you develop diabetes that is solely secondary to obesity," said Dr. Joel Elmquist, professor of internal medicine and pharmacology at UT Southwestern and senior author of the study, which appears online and in the current issue of Cell Metabolism. "Our findings indicate that is not necessarily the case, at least in mice...