# Melanin-concentrating hormone and the neural regulation of feeding

> **NIH NIH K01** · UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA · 2021 · $152,859

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Obesity and its associated comorbidities pose a major burden to public health, and existing therapeutics are
only minimally effective or have major adverse consequences. The brain plays a central role in mediating
energy balance. Melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH), a neuropeptide produced primarily in the lateral
hypothalamic area (LHA) increases energy intake and body weight gain, and therefore there is recent interest
in developing obesity therapeutics that block the hyperphagic effects of MCH. Preliminary data herein suggest
that in addition to generally increasing food intake, MCH contributes to excessive feeding via conditioned
appetitive mechanisms, such as food impulsivity and conditioned place preference for palatable food.
Furthermore, these mechanisms can be attributed to specific nodes of MCH neuronal circuitry such as the
ventral hippocampus (vHP), a region that contains high levels of MCH receptor but where the function of MCH
with regard to feeding behavior has not previously been investigated. Through studying the MCH system and
its contributions to the central regulation of ingestive behavior, the principal goal of the proposed 5-year
research career development plan is to facilitate the applicant's transition from Research Assistant Professor
to Tenure-track Assistant Professor with independent R01 funding. The proposed research will enable the
applicant to master several virus-based neuroanatomical and chemogenetic techniques, rodent behavioral
paradigms, high- resolution whole brain mapping with functional connectivity analyses. Using these
techniques, she will determine the role of MCH to vHP neuronal circuitry in mediating feeding behavior, the
relevance of this pathway to obesity, and will identify collateral projections, functional connections, and
downstream targets. Specific Aim 1 utilizes dual virus chemogenetic techniques to selectively activate MCH
neurons that project to the vHP in order to study the role of vHPà MCH neuronal circuitry in mediating
several aspects of feeding behavior. Specific Aim 2 uses viral-based neural tracing, immunohistochemistry and
in situ hybridization to further characterize these neurons by their collateral projections and phenotypic
gene/protein expression profiles. Aim 3 uses the novel combination of dual virus chemogenetics with whole
brain perfusion mapping to determine downstream regions engaged by activating MCH neurons that project to
the vHP. Additionally, experiments in Aim 3 will determine how MCH to vHP neuronal circuitry augments
regional brain activity during food impulsivity. This novel combination of approaches allows for investigation
of the interaction between activating specific nodes of a defined circuit and immediate behavioral effects.
Results from these experiments will be generative as pilot data for an R01 submission by the applicant, will
provide significant contributions to ingestive behavior research, and will overall provide the applican...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10071161
- **Project number:** 5K01DK118000-03
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Emily Elizabeth Noble
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $152,859
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-03-26 → 2023-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10071161

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10071161, Melanin-concentrating hormone and the neural regulation of feeding (5K01DK118000-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10071161. Licensed CC0.

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