EN
In homoeothermic vertebrates, one of the most important physiological mechanism concerns the maintenance of the homeostasis. The principal regulator of energy intake is situated in the central nervous system (CNS), where numerous central and peripheral hormones regulate the energy homeostasis. Neuronal pathways between some hypothalamic nuclei create the appetite regulating network in which orexigenic and anorexigenic circuits modify food intake and energy expenditure. In recent years, a serious problem concerning obesity and related diseases emerged in civilized societies. In order to resolve the issues of disturbances of food intake, it is necessary to understand mechanisms guiding neuroendocrine control of metabolic processes. Previous studies have focused on the role of gut peptides (now called gastrointestinal hormones) only in the regulation of the gastrointestinal tract function. Nowadays, it has become clear that gut hormones signalize neural and endocrine mechanisms to the CNS to create the brain-gut axis which regulates energy homeostasis. This review is an attempt to summarize the knowledge about the hypothalamus-gastrointestinal axis. In the first part of the review the hypothalamic ‘centre’, engaged in the body energy homeostasis regulation and being the most important neuropeptide acting in this region, is presented. In the second one, the information about the origin, properties and some endocrine actions of the most important and best studied, in our opinion, gastrointestinal hormones regulating the food intake is reviewed. Detailed knowledge of the regulation of appetite mechanisms should be an opportunity to overcome an increasingly common problem of civilization – the epidemic of obesity