Melanocortin neurons in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus integrate different hormla signals from the periphery of the organism, which communicate fuel availibility of the organism, such as leptin, insulin and glucose. In turn, these neurons coordinate behavioral and autonomic responses to adapt food intake and energy expenditure. From an evolutionary point of view it is reasonable that these neurocircuits not only adapt food intake and energy expenditure according to fuel availability, but that they also coordinate the fluxes of fuels across different organs.
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