Summary
PROJECT SUMMARY The striking prevalence of obesity and its associated personal and public health consequences highlights the importance of understanding why individuals overeat and gain weight. It is widely recognized that overeating results from a combination of homeostatic (i.e., nutrient need, hunger) and hedonic (i.e., pleasure, reward) drives. While these homeostatic (e.g., hypothalamic) and hedonic [e.g., midbrain dopamine (DA)] systems have been characterized as discrete drivers of food intake, there is considerable evidence that these systems overlap. For example, DA signaling in respo
