Scientists from the USC found that a hormone that affects when and how often animals eat also affects memory..

The stomach of animals and humans contains the hormone ghrelin. Ghrelin tells animals and humans when they are hungry and helps regulate their metabolism, but scientists never knew exactly how it works..

To learn more about how ghrelin affects hunger, metabolism and memory, researchers from the University of California's Dornsife College of Literature, Arts and Science, in collaboration with international scientists, conducted a study on rats.. They disrupted the ability of the hormone ghrelin to interact with the vagus nerve, which carries signals from the gut to the brain, and then tracked the effect on their nutrition and cognitive behavior..

The rats were not worried but were eating more often, said study leader and correspondent author Scott Kanoski, assistant professor of biological sciences at USC Dornsife..

The lack of signaling of ghrelin to the vagus nerve “not only disrupted their blood glucose regulation, but they also gained weight,” he said..

The future in the treatment of metabolic disorders.

Scientists are trying to learn more about the transmission of ghrelin signals through the vagus nerve because it could help researchers develop more effective treatments for metabolic-related diseases such as obesity and diabetes or other metabolic diseases, as well as epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease..

“Much further research will be required to uncover how manipulation of ghrelin signaling through the vagus nerve can be useful in human medicine,” Davis said..

The study was published in the journal Current Biology.

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