During the past 30 years, investigating the physiology of eating behaviors has generated a truly vast literature. This is fueled in part by a dramatic increase in obesity and its comorbidities that has coincided with an ever increasing sophistication of genetically based manipulations. These techniques have produced results with a remarkable level of cell-specificity-particularly at the cell signaling level-and have played a lead role in advancing the field. However, putting these findings into a brain-wide context that connects physiological signals and neurons to behavior and somatic physiology requires a thorough consideration of neuronal connections; a field that has also seen an extraordinary technological revolution. Our goal is to present a comprehensive and balanced assessment of how physiological signals associated with energy homeostasis interact at many brain levels to control eating behaviors. A major theme is that these signals engage sets of interacting neural networks throughout the brain, that are defined by specific neural connections. We begin by discussing some fundamental concepts-including ones that still engender vigorous debate-that provide the necessary frameworks for understanding how the brain controls meal initiation and termination. These include: key word definitions, ATP availability as the pivotal regulated variable in energy homeostasis, neuropeptide signaling, homeostatic and hedonic eating, and meal structure. Within this context, we discuss network models of how key regions in the endbrain (or telencephalon), hypothalamus, hindbrain, medulla, vagus nerve, and spinal cord work together with the gastrointestinal tract to enable the complex motor events that permit animals to eat in diverse situations.

中文翻译：

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进食的生理控制：信号、神经元和网络

在过去的 30 年里，研究饮食行为的生理学产生了真正庞大的文献。这在一定程度上是由于肥胖及其合并症的急剧增加以及基于基因的操作越来越复杂。这些技术产生了具有显着水平细胞特异性的结果——特别是在细胞信号水平——并在推进该领域方面发挥了主导作用。然而，将这些发现置于将生理信号和神经元与行为和躯体生理学联系起来的全脑范围内需要对神经元连接进行全面考虑；这个领域也经历了非凡的技术革命。我们的目标是对与能量稳态相关的生理信号如何在许多大脑水平相互作用以控制饮食行为进行全面和平衡的评估。一个主要主题是这些信号参与了整个大脑中由特定神经连接定义的一组交互神经网络。我们首先讨论一些基本概念——包括那些仍在引起激烈争论的概念——它们为理解大脑如何控制进餐开始和结束提供了必要的框架。其中包括：关键词定义、作为能量稳态中关键调节变量的 ATP 可用性、神经肽信号、稳态和享乐饮食以及膳食结构。在此背景下，我们讨论了端脑（或端脑）、下丘脑、