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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #435252
Research Project: Regulatory Aspects of Obesity Development

Location: Children's Nutrition Research Center

Title: An obligatory role for AgRP neurons in maintaining body temperature during time-restricted feeding

Author
item SU, CANJIN - University Of Texas Health Science Center
item CAI, JING - University Of Texas Health Science Center
item XU, YUANZHONG - University Of Texas Health Science Center
item ARENKIEL, BENJAMIN - Baylor College Of Medicine
item TONG, QINGCHUM - University Of Texas Health Science Center

Submitted to: Metabolism
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/15/2026
Publication Date: 3/16/2026
Citation: Su, C., Cai, J., Xu, Y., Arenkiel, B.R., Tong, Q. 2026. An obligatory role for AgRP neurons in maintaining body temperature during time-restricted feeding. Metabolism. 179. Article 156595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metabol.2026.156595.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.metabol.2026.156595

Interpretive Summary: Maintaining proper body temperature is critical to overall health and wellbeing. Eating different types and quantities of food directly regulates body temperature. The brain circuits that couple food intake and body temperature regulation have remained largely unknown. In this study we identified the brain circuits and neurons that relay food cues to thermal regulation mechanisms in the body. This relates to USDA/ARS priorities in that these findings help identify parts of the brain that control body temperature based on the quality, levels, and types of food humans eat.

Technical Abstract: Homeotherms maintain a steady body temperature through thermoregulation, a process critical for survival during fasting, in which the brain has to defend energy-costly body temperature while reducing energy expenditure to conserve energy reserve; however, the neural basis for defending body temperature remains unclear. Here, we demonstrated that AgRP neuron lesion led to lethality during time-restricted feeding on chow but not on HFD, and caused no obvious impact on HFD-induced obesity or obesity-reducing responses to glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonism. The lesion disrupted adaptive feeding behaviors during time-restricted feeding and reduced motivational feeding on chow. Notably, the lethality was caused by hypothermia instead of reduced food intake. The lesion also caused failure in body temperature maintenance during acute fasting in cold. Fasting-induced activation in AgRP neurons was abrogated when mice were placed in a warm environment. Our results identify the physiological role for AgRP neurons in defending body temperature during restricted availability of low-calorie diets but dispensable for body weight regulation with food ad libitum.