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REVIEW article
Front. Endocrinol.
Sec. Neuroendocrine Science
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1551741
Hypothalamic GABAergic Neurons: Their Roles in Health and Metabolic Diseases
Provisionally accepted
Bingwei Wang 1
YANG YU 1 Juan Li 1
Yu Xiong 1 Xin Zhang 1
Ying Wan 1 Ruimao Zheng 2*
Chunxiang Zhang 1*- 1 Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China
- 2 Peking University, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China
Hypothalamic GABAergic neurons are important in regulating metabolic homeostasis and energy balance. Serving as critical integrators of catabolic and anabolic processes, these neurons orchestrate a broad spectrum of metabolic functions, including feeding, nutrient metabolism, fluid homeostasis, basal metabolism, thermoregulation, and circadian rhythms. Recent advances in neuroscience have facilitated a deeper exploration of the role of hypothalamic GABAergic neurons in metabolic regulation. Emerging research has uncovered key mechanisms through which these neurons modulate energy balance and maintain metabolic balance. These findings not only enhance our understanding of obesity and related metabolic disorders but also underscore the link between hypothalamic dysfunction and prevalent metabolic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. This review summarizes the latest advancements in our understanding of the role of hypothalamic GABAergic neurons in metabolic regulation. It aims to elucidate the neural and molecular mechanisms underlying hypothalamic control of metabolism, offering new perspectives for the diagnosis and treatment of metabolic disorders.
Keywords: ：Hypothalamus GABAergic neurons, Metabolism regulation, energy balance, Neural projections, neural and molecular mechanisms
Received: 03 Jan 2025; Accepted: 19 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, YU, Li, Xiong, Zhang, Wan, Zheng and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Ruimao Zheng, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, Beijing Municipality, China
Chunxiang Zhang, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.