Hypothalamic mTOR signaling regulates food intake

Cota D, Proulx K, Smith KA, Kozma SC, Thomas G, Woods SC, Seeley RJ · 2006 · Science · Atlas ID COT2006

What this study shows

In rats, hypothalamic mTOR signalling (phosphorylated S6K1 and S6) changed with energy status in specific hypothalamic regions and was found in NPY and POMC neurons of the arcuate nucleus. Injecting leucine into the brain ventricles raised hypothalamic mTOR signalling and lowered food intake and body weight. Leptin also raised hypothalamic mTOR activity, and blocking mTOR with rapamycin in the brain blunted leptin's effect on reducing food intake. The authors proposed that hypothalamic mTOR acts as a fuel sensor linked to how much an animal eats. Boundary: rats, direct brain (intracerebroventricular) dosing, short-term food intake; drawn from the abstract only, so doses and effect sizes are not given here.

Abstract

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The mammalian Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) protein is a serine-threonine kinase that regulates cell-cycle progression and growth by sensing changes in energy status. We demonstrated that mTOR signaling plays a role in the brain mechanisms that respond to nutrient availability, regulating energy balance. In the rat, mTOR signaling is controlled by energy status in specific regions of the hypothalamus and colocalizes with neuropeptide Y and proopiomelanocortin neurons in the arcuate nucleus.

Read the full abstract on PubMed →

At a glance

Evidence type	A Animal model Marked A because it is an animal intervention or observation study measuring an organismal outcome (model: Rats (Long-Evans): fasting/refeeding, intracerebroventricular leucine, leptin and rapamycin; hypothalamic immunostaining and Western blot); the code names the system studied -- animal work can be rigorous and still not be human data.
Study type	4 - Animal Study
Model system	Rats (Long-Evans): fasting/refeeding, intracerebroventricular leucine, leptin and rapamycin; hypothalamic immunostaining and Western blot
Journal	Science
Year	2006
Peer reviewed	Yes
Record last updated	2026-10-01
Source	DOI 10.1126/science.1124147 · PMID 16690869

Extracted findings

These fields were extracted from the paper with AI assistance and have not been checked against the source. Read them as a pointer into the paper, not as curated claims; where they disagree with the curated summary above, the curated summary stands.

Intervention	Central (icv) leucine; leptin; rapamycin; fasting
Target	Hypothalamic mTOR (mTORC1) signalling
Model	Rat
Effect	Central leucine raised hypothalamic mTOR signalling and reduced food intake and body weight; mTOR inhibition blunted leptin anorexia

In the Atlas

Cite this paper

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Cota, D., Proulx, K., Smith, K. A., Kozma, S. C., Thomas, G., Woods, S. C., & Seeley, R. J. (2006). Hypothalamic mTOR signaling regulates food intake. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1124147

@article{COT2006,
  author       = {Cota, D. and Proulx, K. and Smith, K. A. and Kozma, S. C. and Thomas, G. and Woods, S. C. and Seeley, R. J.},
  title        = {{Hypothalamic mTOR signaling regulates food intake}},
  journal      = {Science},
  year         = {2006},
  doi          = {10.1126/science.1124147},
  note         = {PMID: 16690869},
}

Cite this Atlas record

The record is the Atlas's own work — the evidence label, the extracted findings and the links. It is cited as part of the dataset, not as the paper.

Barton, O. (2026). Oliver's mTOR Atlas (record COT2006) [Data set]. https://mtor-atlas.org/study/COT2006/ · Dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.22059963

@misc{atlas_COT2006,
  author       = {Barton, Oliver},
  title        = {{Oliver's mTOR Atlas}, record COT2006},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  year         = {2026},
  url          = {https://mtor-atlas.org/study/COT2006/},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.22059963}
}

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