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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Sep 18.
Published in final edited form as: J Mol Endocrinol. 2016 Mar 3;56(4):T157–T174. doi: 10.1530/JME-16-0014

Figure 2.

Figure 2

A highly simplified schematic of the central melanocortin system. Receipt of long-term adipostatic signals and acute satiety signals by neurons in arcuate nucleus and brainstem, respectively. Light blue boxes indicate nuclei containing POMC neurons; yellow boxes indicate nuclei containing MC4R neurons that may serve to integrate adipostatic and satiety signals; and pink boxes show some circumventricular organs involved in energy homeostasis. Red arrows designate projections of POMC neurons; blue arrows show projections of agouti-related protein (AgRP neurons). AP, area postrema; ARC, arcuate nucleus; BST, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis; CCK, cholecystokinin; CEA, central nucleus of the amygdala; DMV, dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus; LH, lateral hypothalamic area; LPB, lateral parabrachial nucleus; ME, median eminence; NTS, nucleus tractus solitarius; PVH, paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus; RET, reticular formation. For simplicity, only a fraction of the >100 MC4R target sites are shown, and none of the MC3R target nuclei is indicated. Adapted, with permission, from Fan W, Boston BA, Kesterson RA, Hruby VJ & Cone RD (1997) Role of melanocortinergic neurons in feeding and the agouti obesity syndrome. Nature 385 165–168.