Medical Scientist Training Program, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States; Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States
Jessica Swanson
Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States
Kevin Ung
Program in Developmental Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States
Alexander Herman
Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States
Elizabeth Hanson
Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States
Joshua Ortiz-Guzman
Program in Developmental Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States
Jennifer Selever
Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States; Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, United States
Qingchun Tong
Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, United States
Department of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States; Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States; Program in Developmental Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, United States; Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute, Texas Children’s Hospital, Houston, United States
Appetite is driven by nutritional state, environmental cues, mood, and reward pathways. Environmental cues strongly influence feeding behavior, as they can dramatically induce or diminish the drive to consume food despite homeostatic state. Here, we have uncovered an excitatory neuronal population in the basal forebrain that is activated by food-odor related stimuli, and potently drives hypophagia. Notably, we found that the basal forebrain directly integrates environmental sensory cues to govern feeding behavior, and that basal forebrain signaling, mediated through projections to the lateral hypothalamus, promotes selective avoidance of food and food-related stimuli. Together, these findings reveal a novel role for the excitatory basal forebrain in regulating appetite suppression through food avoidance mechanisms, highlighting a key function for this structure as a potent integrator of sensory information towards governing consummatory behaviors.