Endocrine factors in the hypothalamic regulation of food intake in females: a review of the physiological roles and interactions of ghrelin, leptin, thyroid hormones, oestrogen and insulin
Open accessAbstract
Controlling energy homeostasis involves modulating the desire to eat and regulating energy expenditure. The controlling machinery includes a complex interplay of hormones secreted at various peripheral endocrine endpoints, such as the gastrointestinal tract, the adipose tissue, thyroid gland and thyroid hormone-exporting organs, the ovary and the pancreas, and, last but not least, the brain itself. The peripheral hormones that are the focus of the present review (ghrelin, leptin, thyroid hormones, oestrogen and insulin) play integrated regulatory roles in and provide feedback information on the nutritional and energetic status of the body. As peripheral signals, these hormones modulate central pathways in the brain, including the hypothalamus, to influence food intake, energy expenditure and to maintain energy homeostasis. Since the growth of the literature on the role of various hormones in the regulation of energy homeostasis shows a remarkable and dynamic expansion, it is now becoming increasingly difficult to understand the individual and interactive roles of hormonal mechanisms in their true complexity. Therefore, our goal is to review, in the context of general physiology, the roles of the five best-known peripheral trophic hormones (ghrelin, leptin, thyroid hormones, oestrogen and insulin, respectively) and discuss their interactions in the hypothalamic regulation of food intake.
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Because synaptic plasticity is embedded in endocrine regulation, it is inherently vulnerable to endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
“Because synaptic plasticity is deeply embedded in endocrine regulation, it is inherently vulnerable to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), a diverse class of natural and synthetic compounds that interfere with hormonal signaling pathways and thereby alter development, metabolism, reproduction, and neural function (Gore, 2010; Somogyi et al., 2011).”
From Environmental endocrine disruptors at the synapse: mechanisms linking chemical exposure to cognitive and behavioral dysfunction (2026) · cites this paper as Somogyi et al., 2011
The Oestrogen section (page unavailable) says that oestrogen, leptin and ghrelin shape hypothalamic synaptic reorganisation, supporting the link between hormones and synaptic plasticity. The cited paper does not establish that this makes synaptic plasticity vulnerable to endocrine-disrupting chemicals; searches for those chemicals did not find a passage addressing that inference. (LLM, conf=0.86)
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“…regulation, it is inherently vulnerable to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), a diverse class of natural and synthetic compounds that interfere with hormonal signaling pathways and thereby alter development, metabolism, reproduction, and neural function (Gore, 2010; Somogyi et al., 2011).”
Self-citation
- Authors
- Somogyi, V., Gyorffy, A., Scalise, T. J., Kiss, D. S., Goszleth, G., Bartha, T., Frenyo, V. L., & Zsarnovszky, A.
- Affiliations
- Magyar Agrár- és Élettudományi Egyetem (HU)
- ORCID
- Kiss, D. S.
- Venue
- Nutrition Research Reviews
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2011-03-22
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 132-154
- ISSN
- 0954-4224 (ISSN-L)
- 1475-2700
- OpenAlex
- W2015993192
- Cited by
- 37
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 3 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 0.20
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Nutrition Research Reviews (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Repository of the Academy's Library (Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (GVOP-3.2.1, 72186)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Regulation of Appetite and Obesity
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Reproductive Medicine › Hypothalamic control of reproductive hormones
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Adipokines, Inflammation, and Metabolic Diseases
- Keywords
- energy homeostasis, ghrelin, leptin, thyroid hormones, estrogen, insulin, peripheral hormones, hormone crosstalk, energy expenditure, female reproduction, appetite regulation
- MeSH terms
- Appetite Regulation, Energy Intake, Eating, Estrogens, Female, Hormones, Humans, Hypothalamus, Insulin, Thyroid Hormones, Leptin, Ghrelin
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