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J. Neurochem. (2012) 120, 891–898.

Chronic intake of high‐fat (HF) diet is known to alter brain neurotransmitter systems that participate in the central regulation of food intake. Dopamine (DA) system changes in response to HF diet have been observed in the hypothalamus, important in the homeostatic control of food intake, as well as within the central reward circuitry [ventral tegmental area (VTA), nucleus accumbens (NAc), and pre‐frontal cortex (PFC)], critical for coding the rewarding properties of palatable food and important in hedonically driven feeding behavior. Using a mouse model of diet‐induced obesity (DIO), significant alterations in the expression of DA‐related genes were documented in adult animals, and the general pattern of gene expression changes was opposite within the hypothalamus versus the reward circuitry (increased vs. decreased, respectively). Differential DNA methylation …