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Science 332 (6035): 1330-1332

Copyright © 2011 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Nicotine Decreases Food Intake Through Activation of POMC Neurons

Yann S. Mineur,1 Alfonso Abizaid,2,* Yan Rao,2 Ramiro Salas,3,4 Ralph J. DiLeone,1 Daniela Gündisch,5 Sabrina Diano,2 Mariella De Biasi,3 Tamas L. Horvath,2 Xiao-Bing Gao,2 Marina R. Picciotto1,{dagger}

Abstract: Smoking decreases appetite, and smokers often report that they smoke to control their weight. Understanding the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the anorexic effects of smoking would facilitate the development of novel treatments to help with smoking cessation and to prevent or treat obesity. By using a combination of pharmacological, molecular genetic, electrophysiological, and feeding studies, we found that activation of hypothalamic α3β4 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors leads to activation of pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons. POMC neurons and subsequent activation of melanocortin 4 receptors were critical for nicotinic-induced decreases in food intake in mice. This study demonstrates that nicotine decreases food intake and body weight by influencing the hypothalamic melanocortin system and identifies critical molecular and synaptic mechanisms involved in nicotine-induced decreases in appetite.

1 Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, 34 Park Street, Third Floor Research, New Haven, CT 06508, USA.
2 Department of Comparative Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, 34 Park Street, Third Floor Research, New Haven, CT 06508, USA.
3 Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
4 Psychiatry, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
5 Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, College of Pharmacy, University of Hawaii at Hilo, 34 Rainbow Drive, Hilo, HI 96720, USA.

* Present address: Institute for Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON K1S 5B6, Canada.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: marina.picciotto{at}yale.edu

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