Effect of cholecystokinin on food intake and appetite

Cholecystokinin (CCK) is a gut hormone secreted from the small intestine in response to luminal nutrients. It is well recognized that CCK plays an important role in the control of food intake, specifically in reducing meal size, also termed “satiation.” This chapter will review both animal and human studies demonstrating that exogenous CCK can reduce food intake and appetite and examine whether endogenous CCK plays a role in controlling meal size. A focus will be on the role of gut-brain vagal afferent signaling in mediating the anorexigenic effects of endogenous and exogenous CCK and how metabolic signals, such as gastric distension and other gut hormones, can impact the efficacy of CCK signaling in reducing food intake.