We investigate the neuro-hormonal basis for complex eating behaviors and blood glucose control, with the ultimate goal of designing new methods to prevent and treat extremes of body weight and associated disorders of mood and metabolism.
We have demonstrated key roles for the hormone ghrelin in reward-based eating, stress-induced comfort food eating, and responses to exercise. Ongoing studies aim to identify the CNS sites and mechanisms by which ghrelin affects eating, body weight, and exercise and how ghrelin contributes to obesity, cachexia, and Prader-Willi Syndrome.
Ghrelin is critical in defending against marked hypoglycemia and death under conditions of marked calorie restriction. Ongoing studies in the lab investigate the CNS and peripheral sites and pathways responsible for ghrelin’s blood glucose-related actions in conditions such as diabetes and hypoglycemia.
We are using a one-of-a-kind set of tools to study the mechanisms directing ghrelin secretion and the physiology of gastric endocrine cells in several different metabolic settings
Our group has demonstrated protective, anti-depressant-like actions and food reward-stimulating actions for the ghrelin system under conditions of chronic psychosocial stress. We have identified adult hippocampal neurogenesis as a mechanism for this anti-depressant-like effect of ghrelin.
The Zigman lab investigates how gastrointestinal hormones interact with the brain and peripheral nervous system to control eating, body weight, blood glucose, and mood in an effort to devise better treatments for obesity, diabetes, eating disorders, and depression.
