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This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Video All Versions of this Article: 93/2/177    most recent expphysiol.2007.039891v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Geerling, J. C. Articles by Loewy, A. D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Geerling, J. C. Articles by Loewy, A. D.

¹ Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 63110, USA

Sodium appetite, the behavioural drive to ingest salt, is stimulated by prolonged physiological sodium deficiency in many animal species. The same neural mechanisms that are responsible for sodium appetite in laboratory animals may influence human behaviour as well, with particular relevance to the dietary salt intake of patients with diseases such as heart failure, renal failure, liver failure and salt-sensitive hypertension. Since the original experimental work of Curt Richter in the 1930s, much has been learned about the regulation of salt-ingestive behaviour. Here, we review data from physiology, pharmacology, neuroanatomy and neurobehavioural investigations into the stimulatory and inhibitory signals that regulate sodium appetite. A rudimentary framework is proposed for the brain circuits that integrate peripheral information representing the need for sodium with neural signals for the gustatory detection of salt in order to drive a motivated ingestive response. Based on this model, areas of remaining uncertainty are highlighted where future information would allow a more detailed understanding of the neural circuitry responsible for sodium appetite.

(Received 14 August 2007; accepted after revision 26 October 2007; first published online 2 November 2007)
Corresponding author J. C. Geerling: Washington University School of Medicine Department of Anatomy & Neurobiology, Box 8108, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St Louis, MO 63110, USA. Email: geerlinj{at}msnotes.wustl.edu