Education:
Ph.D., Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich, Switzerland, 1973

Research Interests:
Dr. Berthoud is primarily interested in the role of the nervous system in the processes maintaining energy homeostasis and nutrient intake. This includes the receptors and pathways that allow the peripheral nervous system and the brain to sense the internal metabolic state and availability of important nutrients as well as the external food environment, the neural circuits integrating this information, and the behavioral, autonomic, and endocrine effector pathways leading to regulatory actions. Interests thus impinge on the areas of obesity and anorexia, gastrointestinal and liver physiology, gut-brain interactions, autonomic nervous system, cognitive neurosciences, taste physiology, and functional foods. The largely NIH funded research activities employ behavioral, neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and electrophysiological methods.

Selected Publications:

The vagus nerve, food intake and obesity.  Berthoud HR.  Regul Pept. 2008 Aug 7;149(1-3):15-25. Epub 2008 Mar 25. Review.

Neural systems controlling the drive to eat: mind versus metabolism.  Zheng H, Berthoud HR.    Physiology (Bethesda). 2008 Apr;23:75-83. Review.

The brain, appetite, and obesity.  Berthoud HR, Morrison C.  Annu Rev Psychol. 2008;59:55-92. Review.

Vagal and Hormonal gut brain communication: from satiation to satisfaction, Berthoud H.R.,Neurogastroenterol Motil. 2008 May;20 Suppl 1:64-72. Review.

 Mind versus metabolism in the control of food intake and energy balance. Berthoud H.R., Physiol Behav. 2004 Jul;81(5):781-93.

 Ingestive behavior and the obesity crisis. Berthoud H.R., Scheurink A.J., Physiol Behav. 2004 Jul;81(5):717-8.

Neuroanatomy of extrinsic afferents supplying the gastrointestinal tract. Berthoud, H.R., Blackshaw, L.A., Brookes, S.J.H. and Grundy, D. Neurogastroenterol Motil, 16:28-33, 2004.

Neural systems controlling food intake and energy balance in the modern world. Berthoud, H.R., Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care, 6:615-620, 2003.

Distribution of the vanilloid receptor (VR1) in the gastrointestinal tract. Ward, S.M., Bayguinov, J., Won, K.J., Grundy, D. and Berthoud H.R., J Comp Neurol, 465:121-135, 2003.

Gastric distension induces c-Fos in medullary GLP-1/2-containing neurons. Vrang, N., C.B. Phifer, M.M. Corkern and Berthoud H.R., Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, 285:R470-478, 2003. 

Peptides that Regulate Food Intake: Appetite-inducing accumbens manipulation activates hypothalamic orexin neurons and inhibits POMC neurons.  Zheng, H., M.M. Corkern, I. Stoyanova, L.M. Patterson, R. Tian and H.R. Berthoud. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, 284:R1436-1444, 2003.   

Vanilloid receptor (VRI) expression in vagal afferent neurons innervating the gastrointestinal tract.  Patterson, L.M., H. Zheng, S.M. Ward, H.R. Berthoud. Cell Tissue Res 311:277-287, 2003.