Neuroendocrinology, metabolism and cáncer

The group is interested in the regulation of energy homeostasis and metabolism in health and disease. In these last years, we have focused our research especially in the pathophysiology of obesity and metabolic syndrome and in the metabolism of cancer. Recently, we demonstrated that the sensory nervous system and thermal sensors like thermoTRP ion channels play a major role in the interplay between thermoregulation and metabolism. Indeed, mice deficient in the most important cold sensor, TRPM8, display hypothermia and a defective thermoregulation. Furthermore, they also develop a phenotype of obesity and circadian dysfunctions, which reveal a clear link between thermosensation, thermoregulation and energy homeostasis. Although TRPM8 ion channels were classically described in sensory peripheral ganglia, we have demonstrated that they are also expressed in brain circuits involved in autonomic thermal homeostasis, behavioral thermoregulation, and other homeostatic functions (i.e. sleep-wake cycle, feeding, osmoregulation and drinking). Moreover, we have found TRPM8 sensory fibers innervating internal organs. These results open a new window in the metabolism and thermoregulation research areas, with relevant potential implications in the physiology of fat and other metabolic organs, in the regulation of body temperature, and in processes like obesity, cachexia, inflammation and cancer.