A study in mice is helping scientists to get a grasp on why we lose our appetite when in chronic pain
of the first group of mice while the animals were in chronic pain. They found substantial neuron signalling in the mice’s anterior cingulate cortex, a pain-processing region of the brain in the prefrontal cortex.To determine whether that signalling was related to appetite loss, the researchers provoked chronic pain in another group of mice, with these animals going on to eat less.
The prefrontal cortex isn’t generally associated with appetite control. To better understand how neurons in the anterior cingulate cortex may influence appetite, the team injected various traceable substances into these neurons in a third group of mice that were similarly made to feel pain. They found that these neurons’ signals led to the lateral hypothalamic area, the brain’s “feeding centre”.Examinations using microscopes confirmed that these neurons were active in the mice with chronic pain. When the researchers used chemicals to stop the neuronal activity in this cortex, the mice’s appetites improved.
Similarly, when the researchers used chemicals to activate these neurons in mice that weren’t in pain, the animals ate less, even if they had been deprived of food before the experiment. This is the first time that researchers have traced the brain mechanisms behind pain-related appetite loss, the researchers wrote.at Liverpool John Moores University, UK, expects a similar brain circuit to be at play in humans, who also often eat less and lose weight if they have chronic pain.With further research, these results could also assist the development of more efficient pain medication, says Brooks.Simon LuckmanHowever, the results aren’t particularly surprising, he says.
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