Hypothalamic AMP-activated Kinase Regulates Glucose-stimulated Insulin Secretion

Hypothalamic AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is one of the central regulators in energy metabolism. It was originally found that inhibition of hypothalamic AMPK by insulin, leptin or alpha-lipoic acid decreases food intake (Minokoshi et al., 2004; Kim et al., 2004), and consequent studies have found that this mediates triiodothyronine's effect on thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue (Lopez et al., 2010). AMPK is an enzyme activated during low cellular energy charge, and AMPK in the hypothalamus may sense whole body energy status (Kim et al., 2004).