2024 Seed Grant
Jon Resch, Ph.D.
University of Iowa
Our bodies need water to survive. Thus, knowing when to drink water, and when not to, is important. This is why some neurons in the brain are devoted to keeping track of hydration. When there is too much salt and/or too little fluid volume, they respond by causing thirst, the feeling of wanting to drink water. But how they drive thirst through their neuronal projections to other sites in the brain is not well understood. This project seeks to unravel the complexity of the thirst circuitry within the hypothalamus, a brain region that is critical for survival behaviors like thirst. Gaining a better understanding of how thirst works is not only important because it is basic to the survival of all land-dwelling animals, including humans, but also because as we get older our ability to know when we need to drink water (thirst) gets worse. The cause of this is not entirely understood, but the dehydration that occurs as a result is dangerous. Improving our knowledge about how thirst works will provide a better chance of discovering the causes of diminished thirst drive and help to develop therapies that prevent dehydration.
