Happy to share our new article, which has been in the making for a veeery long time!

https://insight.jci.org/articles/view/165763

In this study we looked at the control of the entrance of #ghrelin in the #brain

Ghrelin is a #hormone produced by the stomach, which induces hunger. In order to do so, ghrelin needs to enter the brain, to reach neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the #hypothalamus, a region of the brain important for many #endocrine responses.

Here, we explore the role of cells lining the capillaries (such as #perycytes ) at the median eminence, which is on of the "doors" of the brain, where molecules from the periphery are allowed to get in.

We used a mouse model where pericytes can be electrically excited via #optogenetics to study the dynamics of ghrelin entrance in the brain. When we excited pericytes, there was a slow-down of blood flow at the median eminence, resulting in slower entrance of ghrelin, lower and delayed food intake in response to ghrelin injection.

This shows pericytes as a potential therapeutical target for metabolic diseases.