Cell reportsSep 4, 2025

Timing of Eating and Body Weight Controlled by Clock Neurons with Ghrelin Receptors

Circadian Biology Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Jun 27, 2026

Abstract

Essence

GHSR-expressing suprachiasmatic nucleus neurons regulated eating, feed efficiency, and body weight in mice in a mid-rest-phase-dependent way.

Evidence

This mouse chemogenetic and transcriptomic study tested stimulation and inhibition of GHSR-expressing SCN neurons across times of day and compared them with GHSR-expressing arcuate hypothalamic nucleus neurons.

Caveat

The findings are from mouse neural manipulations, and the time-dependent effects were specific to the mid-rest phase rather than general across the day.

Simplified

Food consumption impacts body weight differently depending on the time of day. Here, we investigated whether suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) neurons responsive to the hormone ghrelin temporally regulate eating and body weight in mice. The chemogenetic stimulation of GHSR (growth hormone secretagogue receptor)-expressing SCN neurons during the mid-rest phase-when mice are most sensitive to ghrelin's orexigenic effects-increased food intake. Repeated chemogenetic inhibition of these neurons during this same time of day reduced the corresponding, typically low amount of food intake; it also reduced the cumulative feed efficiency and body weight. These effects were not observed at other times of day. The chemogenetic stimulation of GHSR-expressing arcuate hypothalamic nucleus neurons increased food intake independently of time of day. GHSR-expressing SCN neurons represented subpopulations of six distinct SCN neuronal clusters, which were predominantly GABAergic and exhibited light-sensitive, time-of-day-dependent transcriptomic profiles. Thus, our study identifies GHSR-expressing SCN neurons as a neuronal population that regulates eating, feed efficiency, and body weight in a mid-rest phase-dependent manner.