Modelling hypothalamic pathways in diabetes and obesity

Over the past twenty years, rodent models have allowed researchers to identify the multitude of hypothalamic mechanisms that regulate energy balance. Increasingly, biological and nutritional factors are being shown to exert their effects via these central pathways and there is growing support for the idea that they are perturbed in obesity and diabetes. Important questions concern whether such changes contribute to such diseases and whether the hypothalamus can be specifically targeted to help treat them.