Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA; Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.
Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
Curr Biol. 2024 Nov 18;34(22):R1125-R1130. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.10.035.
Interoception - the internal sensing of bodily states and their communication to the brain - has recently become a 'buzzword'. However, the scientific study of how the brain and the body communicate has a much longer and well-established history. In the 16 century, the French philosopher and scientist René Descartes (1596-1650) proposed that the mind and body are two fundamentally distinct entities, yet they interact with each other to regulate animal and human behaviors. Descartes argued that the body, which operates like a machine and follows the laws of physics, is controlled by the mind (or the brain), the source of our cognitive functions. Today, it is widely recognized that the interactions between the body and brain are critical for our survival and overall well-being (Figure 1). At the same time, we are just beginning to learn about the mechanistic bases of these interactions. In this primer, we will discuss the origins of interoception research and how body-brain interactions govern some of our most critical homeostatic functions, such as energy balance. Given their key roles in health and disease, we will focus on the neural and hormonal pathways involved in gut-brain communication and their impact on feeding behavior and metabolism.
内感受——即对身体状态的内部感知及其与大脑的交流——最近成为了一个“热门词汇”。然而，大脑和身体如何交流的科学研究有着更长且更成熟的历史。16 世纪，法国哲学家和科学家勒内·笛卡尔（René Descartes，1596-1650 年）提出，心灵和身体是两个完全不同的实体，但它们相互作用以调节动物和人类的行为。笛卡尔认为，身体就像机器一样运作，遵循物理定律，它由心灵（或大脑）控制，而大脑是我们认知功能的来源。如今，人们普遍认识到身体和大脑之间的相互作用对于我们的生存和整体健康至关重要（图 1）。与此同时，我们才刚刚开始了解这些相互作用的机制基础。在这篇概述中，我们将讨论内感受研究的起源，以及身体-大脑相互作用如何控制我们一些最关键的稳态功能，如能量平衡。鉴于它们在健康和疾病中的关键作用，我们将重点关注涉及肠道-大脑通讯的神经和激素途径，以及它们对进食行为和新陈代谢的影响。
