FScN Special Seminar: Peripheral Signals in Meal Initiation and Termination
We would like to invite you to a special seminar hosted by the Department of Food Science and Nutrition on Tuesday, 4 May 2021, at 3:30 PM. Dr. Wolfgang Laghans, Professor Emeritus from the Department of Health Sciences and Technology at ETH Zürich will present his seminar titled Peripheral Signals in Meal Initiation and Termination.
Dr. Wolfgang Langhans is a world renowned expert in characterizing the physiological mechanisms that control eating and energy balance and their disturbances, such as obesity and type-2-diabetes, and has been specially invited to discuss his work with us at CFANS.
Seminar Abstract:
Peripheral signals in meal initiation and termination
In the past 30 years the science of eating and energy homeostasis has produced results with a remarkable level of cell and molecular specificity. In stark contrast to this, beyond measuring gross intake investigators often do not pay attention to determining what exactly a given manipulation is doing to the various components of eating behavior, such as the size, frequency, and distribution of meals within the light/dark period. In this seminar, I will discuss peripheral physiological signals that contribute to the initiation and termination of spontaneous, habitual meals, i.e., meals that are taken at regular times of day when food is available. Although habitual meals usually anticipate and prevent an energy deficit, they are presumably triggered at least in part by peripheral metabolic signals, such as changes in nutrient absorption or a metabolic switch. An example is the pre-meal decline in blood glucose described almost 40 years ago, a pattern implicated in meal initiation in rodents and humans. The pre-meal increase in ghrelin on the other hand, is interesting because it scarcely occurs prior to spontaneous meals and appears to be mainly conditioned. Examples of physiological peripheral signals implicated in meal termination are the prandial increase in gastrointestinal fill and the release of several gastrointestinal peptides (e.g., cholecystokinin, glucagon-like peptide-1, peptide tyrosine tyrosine). Their integration begins already in vagal sensory nerves and continues in the hindbrain. These and other peripheral phenomena that may contribute to the physiological control of meal initiation and termination will be discussed.
Presented by the Department of Food Science and Nutrition
