WIKIMEDIA, TIIA MONTOTwo genetically different sets of neurons control a mouse’s thirst for water, a team of scientists from Columbia University reported today (January 26) in Nature. While the activation of one group of excitatory neurons triggers the mice to avidly lap up water, the other group causes even parched mice to shun a readily available drink.
“It’s a very elegant study using optogenetics to identify separate cell populations that clearly act in opposite ways on thirst,” said Joseph Verbalis of Georgetown University, who was not involved in the study.
The researchers, led by Yuki Oka (who is now at Caltech), had previously explored the question of how the body maintains balance between salt and water intake by studying the neurobiology of salt tasting. In an attempt to understand how the brain controls the desire for water, the researchers looked for neurons in the subfornical organ (SFO)—a region of the hypothalamus previously implicated in thirst regulation—that were activated after 48 hours of water deprivation. There, the scientists found a group of excitatory neurons that were unique in expressing the transcription factor ETV-1.
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