Abstract

Maintaining body temperature is calorically expensive for endothermic animals. Mammals eat more in the cold to compensate for energy expenditure, but the neural mechanism underlying this coupling is not well understood. Through behavioral and metabolic analyses, we found that mice dynamically switch between energy conservation and food-seeking states in the cold, the latter of which is primarily driven by energy expenditure rather than the sensation of cold. To identify the neural mechanisms underlying cold-induced food seeking, we use whole-brain cFos mapping and found that the xiphoid (Xi), a small nucleus in the midline thalamus, was selectively activated by prolonged cold associated with elevated energy expenditure but not with acute cold exposure. In vivo calcium imaging showed that Xi activity correlates with food-seeking episodes in cold conditions. Using activity-dependent viral strategies, we found that optogenetic and chemogenetic stimulation of cold-activated Xi neurons recapitulated cold-induced feeding, whereas their inhibition suppressed it. Mechanistically, Xi encodes a context-dependent valence switch promoting food-seeking behaviors in cold but not warm conditions. Furthermore, these behaviors are mediated by a Xi to nucleus accumbens projection. Our results establish Xi as a key region for controlling cold-induced feeding, an important mechanism for maintaining energy homeostasis in endothermic animals.