Biology subjects

Schneeberger, M.

Publications and source records attributed to Schneeberger, M..

8 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Identification of a Thermogenic Target in the Dorsal Raphe Nucleus for Weight Management

Obesity emerges from a complex interplay of factors, including imbalanced interoception, genetic predisposition, and environmental cues, ultimately disrupting body weight homeostasis1. While much research has concentrated on strategies to suppress appetite for sustained weight loss, insufficient attention has been given to counterregulatory mechanisms that promote energy expenditure. Here, we show that chronic inhibition of GABAergic neurons in the Dorsal Raphe Nucleus (DRNVGAT) reduces body weight in diet-induced obese (DIO) mice. In this study, molecular profiling and in-situ hybridization in rodent and human brains revealed that the constitutively activated orphan receptor GPR6 is selectively enriched in DRNVGAT neurons. We next developed and administered a potent and highly selective GPR6 inverse agonist, which significantly reduced weight gain in DIO mice by stimulating brown adipose tissue thermogenesis without affecting appetite. Altogether, this study transitions from transcriptomic profiling, high-throughput drug screening and metabolic phenotyping to successfully identify a novel candidate to treat obesity.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Early exposure to Western diet exacerbates visual outcomes in female mice.

Obesity, a growing pandemic in Western societies, significantly impacts metabolic health and contributes to visual disorders. While the systemic consequences of obesity, such as chronic inflammation and insulin resistance, are well-studied in adults, its early-life effects on retinal health remain underexplored. Using a maternal Western Diet (WD) exposure model, we investigated the developmental impact of early-life metabolic disturbances on retinal and cognitive function. Our findings reveal that WD exposure from gestation to early adulthood accelerates the onset of features resembling diabetic retinopathy, including increased retinal vascularization, inflammation, and compromised blood-retina barrier integrity, observed within just four months. Females exhibited heightened vulnerability, showing pronounced ocular defects such as anophthalmia, microphthalmia, and congenital cataracts. These results underscore a critical developmental window during which metabolic disruptions predispose to sex-specific retinal and neurovascular pathologies. This work bridges the link between pediatric and adult obesity, highlighting the urgent need for early interventions to mitigate long-term visual impairments that could further impair recognition memory.

physiology↗

bioRxiv2022

Microbiota-stimulated Interleukin-22 regulates brain neurons and protects against stress-induced anxiety

Psychological stress and its sequelae are a major public health problem. While the immune system has been implicated in the development of stress-related disorders, how the immune signals modulate neural responses to stress is poorly understood. Contrary to our expectations, we found that the immune cytokine Interleukin (IL)-22 is the key mediator of an immune-to-brain pathway that diminishes, rather than amplifies, stress-induced anxiety. We showed that stress induced TH17 differentiation and IL-22 production in the intestine following barrier dysfunction and microbiota stimulation. IL-22 then directly signaled to septal neurons in the brain to mitigate anxiety-like behavior. Accordingly, mice treated with exogenous IL-22 showed resilience to chronic stress-induced anxiety disorders. Our study thus reveals a previously-unappreciated immune-to-brain axis that defends against psychological stress, suggesting a potential intervention strategy for stress-related mental diseases.

immunology↗

bioRxiv2022

FGF21 Counteracts Alcohol Intoxication by Activating Noradrenergic Neurons

Animals that consume fermenting fruit or nectar are exposed to ethanol, thus increasing their risk of injury or predation. This risk is heightened in humans, who have actively imbibed alcohol for thousands of years. In this report, we show that the hormone FGF21, which is strongly induced by ethanol in murine and human liver, exerts sobering or "amethystic" effects on both arousal and motor coordination without changing ethanol catabolism. Mice lacking FGF21 take longer than wild-type littermates to recover their righting reflex and balance following ethanol exposure. Conversely, pharmacologic FGF21 administration reduces the time needed for mice to recover from ethanol-induced unconsciousness and ataxia. FGF21 mediates it amethystic effects by directly activating the noradrenergic nervous system, which regulates arousal and alertness. These results indicate that this FGF21 liver-brain pathway evolved to protect against ethanolinduced intoxication and that it might be targeted pharmaceutically for treating acute alcohol poisoning.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Functional Analysis of Distinct Populations of Subthalamic Nucleus Neurons on Parkinson Disease and OCD-like Behaviors in Mice

The Subthalamic Nucleus (STN) is a component of the basal ganglia and plays a key role to control movement and limbic-associative functions. STN modulation with Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) improves the symptoms of Parkinsons Disease (PD) and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) patients. However, DBS does not allow for cell-type specific modulation of the STN. While extensive work has focused on understanding STN functionality, the understanding of its cellular components is limited. Here, we first performed an anatomical characterization of molecular markers for specific STN neurons. These studies revealed that most STN neurons express Pitx2, and that different overlapping subsets express Gabrr3, Ndnf or Nos1. Next, we used neuronal modulatory tools to demonstrate their roles in regulating locomotor and limbic functions in mice. Specifically, we showed that optogenetic photoactivation of STN neurons in Pitx2-Cre mice or of the Gabrr3-expressing subpopulation induces locomotor changes, and improves locomotion in a PD mouse model. Additionally, photoactivation of Pitx2 and Gabrr3 cells induced repetitive grooming, a phenotype associated with OCD. Repeated stimulation prompted a persistent increase in grooming that could be reversed by fluoxetine treatment, a first-line drug therapy for OCD. Conversely, repeated inhibition of STNGabrr3 neurons suppressed grooming in Sapap3-KO mice, a model for OCD. Finally, circuit and functional mapping of STNGabrr3 neurons showed that these effects are mediated via projections to the globus pallidus/entopeduncular nucleus and substantia nigra reticulata. Altogether, these data identify Gabrr3 neurons as a key population in mediating the beneficial effects of STN modulation thus providing a new molecular handle for PD and OCD drug discovery.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Microbiota-modulated enteric neuron translational profiling uncovers a CART+ glucoregulatory subset

Microbial density and diversity increase towards the distal intestine, affecting tissue physiology, metabolism, and function of both immune and nervous systems. Intrinsic enteric-associated neurons (iEAN) continuously monitor and modulate intestinal functions, including nutrient absorption and motility. Through molecular, anatomic and functional approaches, we characterized the influence of the microbiota on iEAN. We found that iEAN are functionally adapted to the intestinal segment they occupy, with a stronger microbiota influence on distal intestine neurons. Chemogenetic characterization of microbiota-influenced iEAN identified a subset of viscerofugal CART+ neurons, enriched in the distal intestine, able to modulate feeding through insulin-glucose levels. Retro- and anterograde tracing revealed that CART+ viscerofugal neurons send axons to the gut sympathetic ganglion and are synaptically connected to the liver and pancreas. Our results demonstrate a region-specific adaptation of enteric neurons and indicate that specific iEAN subsets are capable of regulating host physiology independently from the central nervous system. One Sentence SummaryMicrobes impact regionally defined intrinsic enteric neuron translatomes, including a novel CART+ glucoregulatory viscerofugal population.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2019

Lateral septum neurotensin neurons link stress and anorexia

Stress and anxiety are precipitating factors for eating disorders, but the neural basis linking stress to alterations in feeding is not well understood. Here we describe a novel population of stress-responsive neurons in the lateral septum (LS) of mice that express neurotensin (LSNTS) in a sexually dimorphic, estrous cycle-dependent manner. We used in vivo imaging to show that LSNTS neurons are activated by stressful experiences when flight is a viable option, but not by a stressful experience associated with freezing or immobility. LSNTS activation leads to a decrease of food intake and body weight in mice, without altering locomotion or other behaviors associated with anxiety. Molecular profiling of LSNTS neurons showed that these neurons co-express Glp1r (glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor), and both pharmacologic and genetic manipulations of Glp1r signaling in the LS recapitulates the behavioral effects of LSNTS activation. Finally, we mapped the outputs of LSNTS neurons and show that activation of LSNTS nerve terminals in the lateral hypothalamus (LH), a well-established feeding center, also decrease food intake. Taken together, these results show that LSNTS neurons link stress and anorexia via effects on hypothalamic pathways regulating food intake.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2018

Encoding of an engram for food location by satiety-promoting Drd2 hippocampal neurons

Associative learning guides feeding behavior in mammals in part by using cues that link location in space to food availability. However, the elements of the top-down circuitry encoding the memory of the location of food is largely unknown, as are the high-order processes that control satiety. Here we report that hippocampal dopamine 2 receptor (D2R) neurons are specifically activated by food and that modulation of their activity reduce food intake in mice. We also found that activation of these neurons interferes with the valence of food and the acquisition of a spatial memory linking food to a location via projections from the hippocampus to the lateral septum. Finally, we showed that inputs from lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC) to the hippocampus can also drive satiety via activation of D2R cells. These data describe a previously unidentified function for hippocampal D2R cells to regulate feeding behavior and identifies a LEC->Hippocampus->Septal high-order circuit that encodes the memory of food location.

animal behavior and cognition↗