The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a widespread intercellular
signaling system that plays a critical role in energy homeostasis,
meant as the precise matching of caloric intake with energy
expenditure which normally keeps body weight stable over
time. Complex interactions between environmental and neurohormonal systems directly contribute to the balance of energy
homeostasis. This review highlights established and more
recent data on the brain circuits in which the ECS plays an
important regulatory role, with focus on the hypothalamus, a
region where numerous interacting systems regulating feeding,
satiety, stress, and other motivational states coexist. Although
not meant as an exhaustive review of the field, this article will
discuss how endocannabinoid tone, in addition to reinforcing
reward circuitries and modulating food intake and the salience
of food, controls lipid and glucose metabolism in several peripheral organs, particularly the liver and adipose tissue. Direct
actions in the skeletal muscle and pancreas are also emerging
and are briefly discussed. This review provides new perspectives into endocannabinoid control of the neurochemical causes
and consequences of energy homeostasis imbalance, a knowledge that might lead to new potential treatments for obesity
and related morbidities. VC 2014 BioFactors, 40(4):389–397, 2014
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