Food Intake and Its Control by Signaling Molecules

Continuous incorporation of nutrients into the organism is a requirement for all living beings. For complex entities such as invertebrate and vertebrate animals, feeding has evolved as a physiological task that is sustained by a spectrum of metabolic, endocrine, and behavioral activities. Feeding also involves the coordinated function of diverse systems that make possible the sensation of hunger, the search for food, and the assimilation and processing of nutrients to reach the satiation state. This chapter will review, from a historical perspective, the principal biochemical messengers, from within the brain and from peripheral organs that make this essential function possible.