2017/04/21

‘Eating with the eyes’ is hard-wired in the brain

Press release

Activation of the hypothalamic feeding centre upon visual prey detection

Akira Muto, Pradeep Lal, Deepak Ailani, Gembu Abe, Mari Itoh, Koichi Kawakami

Nature Communications 8, Article number: 15029 (2017) DOI:10.1038/ncomms15029

Pressrelease (In Japanese only)

Have you ever wondered why just seeing food can make your mouth start to water? By visualizing neuronal activity in specific areas of the zebrafish brain, scientists at the National Institute of Genetics (NIG) in Japan have revealed a direct link between visual perception of food and feeding motivation. The study, published in the April 20, 2017 issue of Nature Communications, suggests that “eating with the eyes” is deeply rooted in evolution.

This study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP25290009 and JP25650120, and also partly supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP15H02370 and JP16H01651, and NBRP from Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED). This work was also supported in part by the Center for the Promotion of Integrated Sciences (CPIS) of SOKENDAI.

Click here for article
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-04/rooi-wt041717.php

Figure1

THIS IS A ZEBRAFISH LARVA TRYING TO CATCH PREY.


▶This study is based on the previous study.


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