Alhadeff Lab Projects

Gut influences on central feeding circuits

Energy balance involves exquisite coordination between the gut and the brain. Indeed, our recent work has demonstrated the striking ability of gut signaling to rapidly change in vivo brain activity. What are the pathways through which gut signals influence the brain? How does the gut mediate activity across networks of neurons? And how do these changes in neural activity impact feeding behavior? Answers to these questions will provide a better understanding of how the gut communicates with the brain to control energy balance. 

Interactions between central homeostatic and reward systems

In humans and rodents alike, we eat not just for survival but also because eating is pleasurable. And in the brain, we know that both homeostatic and reward circuits are engaged during food seeking and consumption. Historically, these systems were thought to drive discrete aspects of ingestive behavior: hypothalamic circuits control energy homeostasis, while midbrain reward circuitry influences hedonic food intake. Our recent findings, however, suggest that these systems actually work together to influence behavior. We discovered a bidirectional, interdependent relationship between hypothalamic “hunger” neurons and midbrain dopamine circuits. How do these neural systems interact to drive motivated behavior? Understanding this neural interaction will provide insight into both eating and substance abuse disorders.

Understanding complex motivational networks

We exist in a dynamic environment, with multiple motivational drives – such as hunger, thirst, comfort, and sex – influencing our behavior. What are the brain circuits that underlie these different drives? Are these circuits distinct, or do they share a common substrate? And how does neural activity in these circuits promote motivation? These questions will reveal the complexity of motivational networks in the brain and how they regulate behavior.