The burgeoning obesity epidemic has fueled the drive to describe, mechanistically,
metabolic homeostasis. From the early theories implicating glucose as a principal modulator
grew an understanding of a complex array of metabolic signals, sensed by peripheral
organs along with specific locations within the central nervous system (CNS). The discovery
that leptin, an adipose-derived hormone, acts within the mediobasal hypothalamus to control
food intake and energy expenditure ushered in a decade of research that went on to …