Hypothalamic tanycytes—masters and servants of metabolic, neuroendocrine, and neurogenic functions

Goodman, Timothy and Hajihosseini, Mohammad K. (2015) Hypothalamic tanycytes—masters and servants of metabolic, neuroendocrine, and neurogenic functions. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 9. ISSN 1662-4548

[thumbnail of fnins-09-00387]
Preview
PDF (fnins-09-00387) - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

There is a resurgent interest in tanycytes, a radial glial-like cell population occupying the floor and ventro-lateral walls of the third ventricle (3V). Tanycytes reside in close proximity to hypothalamic neuronal nuclei that regulate appetite and energy expenditure, with a subset sending projections into these nuclei. Moreover, tanycytes are exposed to 3V cerebrospinal fluid and have privileged access to plasma metabolites and hormones, through fenestrated capillaries. Indeed, some tanycytes act as conduits for trafficking of these molecules into the brain parenchyma. Tanycytes can also act as neural stem/progenitor cells, supplying the postnatal and adult hypothalamus with new neurons. Collectively, these findings suggest that tanycytes regulate and integrate important trophic and metabolic processes and possibly endow functional malleability to neuronal circuits of the hypothalamus. Hence, manipulation of tanycyte biology could provide a valuable tool for modulating hypothalamic functions such as energy uptake and expenditure in order to tackle prevalent eating disorders such as obesity and anorexia.

Item Type: Article
Additional Information: © 2015 Goodman and Hajihosseini. 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.
Uncontrolled Keywords: sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School: Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
UEA Research Groups: Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Cells and Tissues
Related URLs:
Depositing User: Pure Connector
Date Deposited: 01 Dec 2016 00:05
Last Modified: 20 Apr 2023 00:19
URI: https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/61571
DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2015.00387

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item