The role of estrogen and thyroid hormones in the regulation of feedintake. Literature review

The authors review the "individual" and combined effects of two hormone families, the estrogens and thyroid hormones, in the central regulation of feed-intake. The interactions between estrogens and thyroid hormones take place both intercellularly and intracellularly and integrate on at least three levels: Specific nuclear receptors, putative plasma membrane-bound/incorporated ligand-receptor complexes that activate rapid, non-genomic intracellular signalling cascades, and crosstalks on multiple levels of genomic and/or non-genomic estrogen- and thyroid hormone-activated intracellular signalling pathways. The significance of integral hormone effects in feeding is also discussed.