Adiposity Hormone, Leptin, Regulates Food Intake By Influencing Learning And Memory

New animal research reveals mechanism that links memory and feeding behavior with leptin, a hormone released from fat cells

Research presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), the foremost society for research into all aspects of eating and drinking behavior, finds that the hormone leptin reduces food intake, in part, by activating the hippocampus, an area of the brain that controls learning and memory function. Leptin is a hormone released from fat cells that acts on the brain to inhibit feeding.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania found that when leptin was delivered directly to the hippocampus in rats, the animals consumed less food and lost body weight. Leptin delivered to this region of the brain also impaired the ability of the animals to learn about the spatial location of food...