---
OA_place: repository
OA_type: green
_id: '23003'
abstract:
- lang: eng
text: The peripheral neural pathways that relay oral and post-ingestive chemo- and
mechanosensory signals to the brain during food consumption are increasingly well
understood. Far less is known about how these and other body signals are integrated
and organized in the brainstem lateral parabrachial nucleus (LPBN), a key interoceptive
sensory hub. We established methods for dense calcium imaging of 100s of neurons
from mouse LPBN. Food consumption drove a seconds-long wave of activity across
LPBN, with dynamics mirroring the movement of food through the upper gastrointestinal
tract as observed using X-ray videofluoroscopy. By imaging the same neurons across
days, we found that spatially clustered subsets of neurons encoded oral signals,
stomach filling, visceral malaise, arousal, and/or body movement. Moreover, only
certain subsets were modulated by cortical input. Together, these experiments
establish a platform for understanding how peripheral and central interoceptive
signals are integrated in the brainstem to guide behavior.
acknowledgement: We thank S. Zhang, K. Evans, C. Massengill, J.S. Alvarado, and members
of the Andermann lab for helpful discussion and feedback. We thank J. Mathai for
the use of the LabScope for fluoroscopy experiments. We thank J. Fernando, P. Prasad,
D. Guarino, J. DeBolt, Z. Stolberg, and A. Pinilla for animal husbandry and other
technical assistance. Authors were supported by NSF GRFP DGE1745303, NIH F31DC020631,
and NIH T32DK007516 (R.A.E.); NIH F32DK135247 and NIH T32DK007516 (K.R.); the BBRF
Young Investigator Grant (H.K.); the Research Council of Norway Grant 250259 (S.G.
and K.K.L.); and the Pew Innovation Fund, the McKnight Foundation, the Klarman Family
Foundation, the Harvard Brain Science Initiative Bipolar Disorder Seed Grant supported
by Kent and Liz Dauten, the NIH (DP1AT010971, DP1DK139958, and P01HL149630), a gift
from Paul Weisman, and the K. Lisa Yang Brain-Body Center (M.L.A.).
article_processing_charge: No
article_type: original
author:
- first_name: Rachel A.
full_name: Essner, Rachel A.
last_name: Essner
- first_name: Kiersten
full_name: Ruda, Kiersten
last_name: Ruda
- first_name: Hannah J.
full_name: Choh, Hannah J.
last_name: Choh
- first_name: Hakan
full_name: Kücükdereli, Hakan
id: 5d5f6ea4-ef9e-11f0-a10a-85e12a3552af
last_name: Kücükdereli
- first_name: Oren
full_name: Amsalem, Oren
last_name: Amsalem
- first_name: Julia
full_name: Edelhaus, Julia
last_name: Edelhaus
- first_name: Gracesenia
full_name: Chahyadinata, Gracesenia
last_name: Chahyadinata
- first_name: Sverre
full_name: Grødem, Sverre
last_name: Grødem
- first_name: Kristian K.
full_name: Lensjø, Kristian K.
last_name: Lensjø
- first_name: Teresa E.
full_name: Lever, Teresa E.
last_name: Lever
- first_name: Mark L.
full_name: Andermann, Mark L.
last_name: Andermann
biorxivid: 1
citation:
ama: Essner RA, Ruda K, Choh HJ, et al. Brainstem sensing of multiple body signals
during food consumption. Neuron. 2026. doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2026.08.015
apa: Essner, R. A., Ruda, K., Choh, H. J., Kücükdereli, H., Amsalem, O., Edelhaus,
J., … Andermann, M. L. (2026). Brainstem sensing of multiple body signals during
food consumption. Neuron. Cell Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2026.08.015
chicago: Essner, Rachel A., Kiersten Ruda, Hannah J. Choh, Hakan Kücükdereli, Oren
Amsalem, Julia Edelhaus, Gracesenia Chahyadinata, et al. “Brainstem Sensing of
Multiple Body Signals during Food Consumption.” Neuron. Cell Press, 2026.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2026.08.015.
ieee: R. A. Essner et al., “Brainstem sensing of multiple body signals during
food consumption,” Neuron. Cell Press, 2026.
ista: Essner RA, Ruda K, Choh HJ, Kücükdereli H, Amsalem O, Edelhaus J, Chahyadinata
G, Grødem S, Lensjø KK, Lever TE, Andermann ML. 2026. Brainstem sensing of multiple
body signals during food consumption. Neuron.
mla: Essner, Rachel A., et al. “Brainstem Sensing of Multiple Body Signals during
Food Consumption.” Neuron, Cell Press, 2026, doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2026.08.015.
short: R.A. Essner, K. Ruda, H.J. Choh, H. Kücükdereli, O. Amsalem, J. Edelhaus,
G. Chahyadinata, S. Grødem, K.K. Lensjø, T.E. Lever, M.L. Andermann, Neuron (2026).
das_tickbox: '1'
dataavailabilitystatement: "This study did not generate any new, unique reagents.Single-neuron
calcium imaging traces from all experiments have been deposited at Mendeley Data
at 10.17632/wh6f8xt64y.1 and are publicly available as of the date of publication.
Raw two-photon calcium imaging and fiber photometry datasets are available from
the lead contact upon request.\r\nAll original code is deposited on GitHub (https://github.com/kmruda/PBN_sensing_body_signals)
as well as Zenodo at 10.5281/zenodo.21926666 and is publicly available as of the
date of publication.\r\nAny additional information required to reanalyze the data
is available upon request from the lead contact, Mark L. Andermann (manderma@bidmc.harvard.edu)."
date_created: 2026-09-27T22:01:53Z
date_published: 2026-09-17T00:00:00Z
date_updated: 2026-10-07T08:40:54Z
day: '17'
department:
- _id: MaJö
doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2026.08.015
external_id:
biorxivid:
- 10.1101/2025.04.28.651046
pmid:
- '42753729'
fulldoi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2026.08.015
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
url: https://doi.org/10.1101/2025.04.28.651046
month: '09'
oa: 1
oa_version: Preprint
pmid: 1
publication: Neuron
publication_identifier:
eissn:
- 1097-4199
issn:
- 0896-6273
publication_status: epub_ahead
publisher: Cell Press
quality_controlled: '1'
researchdata_availability: yes
scopus_import: '1'
status: public
supplementarymaterial: yes
title: Brainstem sensing of multiple body signals during food consumption
type: journal_article
user_id: 2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87
year: '2026'
...