2009 OYI Award Winner: James E. Blevins
James Ernest Blevins, Univ, of Washington, VA Medical Center, 2009 Outstanding Young Investigator: My research interests focus on brain pathways that communicate information pertaining to how the actions of the fat hormone leptin and the endogenous melanocortin 3/4 receptor agonist ligand (alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone) in the hypothalamus are able to inhibit food intake by acting on cells in the hindbrain that receive and integrate satiety information (related to fullness after a meal), coming from the gut, such as cholecystokinin (CCK). The approaches taken to identify these pathways largely consist of combining neuroanatomical retrograde tracing techniques for mapping neural circuits involved with mediating the effects of leptin and alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone on food intake and energy expenditure with histochemical methods (immunocytochemistry and/or laser capture microdissection of selected immunostained cells followed by RT-PCR) for detecting the expression of neural genes involved in the regulation of energy homeostasis. We have recently generated evidence to indicate that oxytocin, a peptide found in neuroanatomical circuits from the hypothalamus to the hindbrain, is important in transmitting the effects of leptin to increase the satiety response to CCK, leading to an inhibition of food intake. Ongoing studies in my laboratory aim at identifying specific cells that express oxytocin receptors in the hindbrain that may explain how leptin is able to contribute to the satiety response to CCK.