Atypical food intake is a primary cause of obesity and other eating and metabolic disorders. Insight into the neural control of feeding has previously focused mainly on signalling mechanisms associated with the hypothalamus1-5, the major centre in the brain that regulates body weight homeostasis6,7. However, roles of non-canonical central nervous system signalling mechanisms in regulating feeding behaviour have been largely uncharacterized. Acetylcholine has long been proposed to influence feeding8-10 owing in part to the functional similarity between acetylcholine and nicotine, a known appetite suppressant. Nicotine is an exogenous agonist for acetylcholine receptors, suggesting that endogenous cholinergic signalling may play a part in normal physiological regulation of feeding. However, it remains unclear how cholinergic neurons in the brain regulate food intake. Here we report that cholinergic neurons of the mouse basal forebrain potently influence food intake and body weight. Impairment of cholinergic signalling increases food intake and results in severe obesity, whereas enhanced cholinergic signalling decreases food consumption. We found that cholinergic circuits modulate appetite suppression on downstream targets in the hypothalamus. Together our data reveal the cholinergic basal forebrain as a major modulatory centre underlying feeding behaviour.

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Sensory maps are created by networks of neuronal responses that vary with their anatomical position, such that representations of the external world are systematically and topographically organized in the brain. Current understanding from studying excitatory maps is that maps are sculpted and refined throughout development and/or through sensory experience. Investigating the mouse olfactory bulb, where ongoing neurogenesis continually supplies new inhibitory granule cells into existing circuitry, we isolated the development of sensory maps formed by inhibitory networks. Using in vivo calcium imaging of odor responses, we compared functional responses of both maturing and established granule cells. We found that, in contrast to the refinement observed for excitatory maps, inhibitory sensory maps became broader with maturation. However, like excitatory maps, inhibitory sensory maps are sensitive to experience. These data describe the development of an inhibitory sensory map as a network, highlighting the differences from previously described excitatory maps.

Background The diagnosis of uncommon pediatric neuromuscular disease (NMD) is challenging due to genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity, yet is important to guide treatment, prognosis, and recurrence risk. Patients with diagnostically challenging presentations typically undergo extensive testing with variable molecular diagnostic yield. Given the advancement in next generation sequencing (NGS), we investigated the value of clinical whole exome sequencing (ES) in uncommon pediatric NMD. Methods A retrospective cohort study of 106 pediatric NMD patients with a combination of ES, chromosomal microarray (CMA), and candidate gene testing was completed at a large tertiary referral center. Results A molecular diagnosis was achieved in 37/79 (46%) patients with ES, 4/44 (9%) patients with CMA, and 15/74 (20%) patients with candidate gene testing. In 2/79 (3%) patients, a dual molecular diagnosis explaining the neuromuscular disease process was identified. A total of 42 patients (53%) who received ES remained without a molecular diagnosis at the conclusion of the study. Conclusions Due to NGS, molecular diagnostic yield of rare neurological diseases is at an all‐time high. We show that ES has a higher diagnostic rate compared to other genetic tests in a complex pediatric neuromuscular disease cohort and should be considered early in the diagnostic journey for select NMD patients with challenging presentations in which a clinical diagnosis is not evident.