The heart of the feeding circuitry

Last Nature Neuroscience Cover: June 2015, vol. 18, no. 6. 

Garfield and colleagues demonstrate that melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R)-expressing neurons of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVH) are required for the bidirectional control of feeding and that they induce satiety associated with an appetitive state. The cover depicts a stylized immunofluorescence image of MC4R-expressing neurons in the PVH (as demarked by an MC4R-t2a-Cre reporter line). It symbolizes both the PVH as the 'heart' of the hypothalamic feeding circuitry and the positive emotional valence of the MC4R-driven satiety. Cover design and concept by Michael J. Krashes and Alastair S. Garfield.