OnDemand: April 2025 Grand Rounds - Hindbrain Contributions to the Neurologically Distributed Control of Feeding, Body Weight, and the actions of GLP1R Obesity Medication

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Non-Member: $50.00

Credit Offered

1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit

The efficacy of CNS acting anti-obesity drugs draws heightened attention to defining the brain cells and circuits that mediate food consumption and its inhibition. While hypothalamic involvement has been emphasized historically, significant research highlights roles for contributions from neurons in other brain regions. This talk focuses on roles for hindbrain neurons in controlling the termination and initiation of meals as well as in the visceral malaise that accompanies drug treatments.

1. After participating in the webinar, attendees will learn that the neural control of food intake is anatomically distributed involving cells, circuits, and neurons from many levels of the brain and the periphery, rather than centered in one location as many textbooks state.
2. Attendees will also learn that hindbrain neurons are critical for the cessation of meals (satiation), in triggering the visceral malaise accompanying GLP-1 and other drug therapies, and projections from hindbrain neurons also contribute to motivated feeding behavior.
3. Learners will be able to apply this knowledge to identify opportunities for interventions around hunger and satiety in patients with obesity or those who are on medications for obesity.

Harvey J Grill

Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience, University Of Pennsylvania

Professor Harvey Grill received PhD and postdoctoral training from NYU and Rockefeller University in behavioral neuroscience. He rose through the ranks at the University of Pennsylvania where he spent 45+ years. His research focuses on defining the neural control of food intake and body weight where he championed roles for hindbrain neurons in an anatomically distributed control system. He has trained many other scientists in this field and was recognized for it by TOS with the Wadden Mentorship Award. Harvey served as TOS President in 2012.

The Obesity Society is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The Obesity Society designates this enduring material for a maximum of 1 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

ACCME Activity ID 202923689

Date of Release: May 1, 2025
Date of Termination: December 31, 2027

No commercial support was received for this activity.

Harvey Grill, PhD, FTOS: Consultant relationship with Twist Bioscience (Pharmaceuticals) and Gila Pharmaceuticals (Pharmaceuticals). Independent Contractor relationship with Novo Nordisk (Pharmaceuticals).

Jonathan Purnell, MD, FTOS: Consultation Relationship with Novo Nordisk (Pharmaceuticals), Boehringer Ingelheim (Pharmaceuticals), and Luciole (Pharmaceuticals).

No members of the TOS CME Oversight Committee, charged with the resolution of all relevant conflicts of interest, had any relevant financial relationships while serving on the committee.

1. Hayes MR, Bradley L, Grill HJ. Endogenous hindbrain glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor activation contributes to the control of food intake by mediating gastric satiation signaling. Endocrinology. 2009 Jun;150(6):2654-9. doi: 10.1210/en.2008-1479. Epub 2009 Mar 5. PMID: 19264875; PMCID: PMC2689794.
2. Grill HJ. Distributed neural control of energy balance: contributions from hindbrain and hypothalamus. Obesity (Silver Spring) 14: 216S–221S, 2006. doi: 10.1038/oby.2006.312.
3. Grill HJ, Hayes MR. Hindbrain neurons as an essential hub in the neuroanatomically distributed control of energy balance. Cell Metab 16: 296–309, 2012