The mammalian circadian system, which is comprised of multiple cellular clocks located in
the organs and tissues, orchestrates their regulation in a hierarchical manner throughout the …

Wakefulness and vigilance levels are required for maintaining purposeful activities and
motivated behaviours, which are often triggered by sensory information conveying external …

Food is consumed in order to maintain energy balance at homeostatic levels. In addition,
palatable food is also consumed for its hedonic properties independent of energy status …

The opioid system consists of three receptors, mu, delta, and kappa, which are activated by
endogenous opioid peptides processed from three protein precursors, proopiomelanocortin …

The ventral pallidum (VP) plays a critical role in the processing and execution of motivated
behaviors. Yet this brain region is often overlooked in published discussions of the …

What we eat, when and how much, all are influenced by brain reward mechanisms that
generate “liking” and “wanting” for foods. As a corollary, dysfunction in reward circuits might …

What brain reward systems mediate motivational 'wanting'and hedonic 'liking'for food
rewards? And what roles do those systems play in eating disorders? This article surveys …

Obesity is on the rise in all developed countries, and a large part of this epidemic has been
attributed to excess caloric intake, induced by ever present food cues and the easy …

Feeding satisfies metabolic need but is also controlled by external stimuli, like palatability or
predator threat. Nucleus accumbens shell (NAcSh) projections to the lateral hypothalamus …

Food intake is regulated by 2 complementary drives: the homeostatic and hedonic
pathways. The homeostatic pathway controls energy balance by increasing the motivation to …