About

Professor Catherine Fairhurst Kotz leads research focused on understanding and developing therapeutic strategies for conditions related to aging, obesity, and neurodegenerative diseases. Her work includes investigating the potential of fisetin as a treatment to reduce susceptibility to community-acquired pathogens in vulnerable populations, particularly during acute viral infections. Additionally, Professor Kotz explores the role of the orexin system in energy balance, aiming to improve spontaneous physical activity, caloric expenditure, and sleep quality through small molecule orexin agonists. Her research also addresses the challenge of weight regain by studying whether these orexin agonists can safely reduce the post-weight-loss energy expenditure gap in animal models. Professor Kotz's projects are supported by significant funding from institutions such as the VA and NIH, and her primary research activities are conducted at the Minneapolis VA Health Care System and the University of Minnesota. She actively encourages motivated individuals to join her lab and contribute to advancing knowledge in integrative biology and physiology.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Family medicine
• Sociology
• Political Science
• Business
• Psychology
• Virology
• Pediatrics
• Regional science
• Environmental health
• Law
• Psychiatry

Selected publications

• Activation of Orexin 2 Receptor (OX2R) in Cardiac Myocytes Protects From Hypoxia-Induced Cell Death (Abstract ID: 233541)

  Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics · 2026-05-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Control of Food Intake

  2024-05-28

  articleSenior author

  Eating is essential and, for most individuals, pleasant. Clinicians deal with the consequences of eating in their daily practice. The manner in which humans eat and the amount of food people ingest changes from birth to late years. Individuals have eating disorders, are allergic to foods, overeat (which leads to a series of obesity-related comorbidities), and need surgical procedures to stop them from eating or to help them receive the needed nutrients when there are assaults on their gastrointestinal (GI) tract.

  PublisherDOI

• Interactions between Lateral Hypothalamic Orexin and Dorsal Raphe Circuitry in Energy Balance

  Brain Sciences · 2024-05-07 · 5 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Orexin/hypocretin terminals innervate the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), which projects to motor control areas important for spontaneous physical activity (SPA) and energy expenditure (EE). Orexin receptors are expressed in the DRN, and obesity-resistant (OR) rats show higher expression of these receptors in the DRN and elevated SPA/EE. We hypothesized that orexin-A in the DRN enhances SPA/EE and that DRN-GABA modulates the effect of orexin-A on SPA/EE. We manipulated orexin tone in the DRN either through direct injection of orexin-A or through the chemogenetic activation of lateral-hypothalamic (LH) orexin neurons. In the orexin neuron activation experiment, fifteen minutes prior to the chemogenetic activation of orexin neurons, the mice received either the GABA-agonist muscimol or antagonist bicuculline injected into the DRN, and SPA/EE was monitored for 24 h. In a separate experiment, orexin-A was injected into the DRN to study the direct effect of DRN orexin on SPA/EE. We found that the activation of orexin neurons elevates SPA/EE, and manipulation of GABA in the DRN does not alter the SPA response to orexin neuron activation. Similarly, intra-DRN orexin-A enhanced SPA and EE in the mice. These results suggest that orexin-A in the DRN facilitates negative energy balance by increasing physical activity-induced EE, and that modulation of DRN orexin-A is a potential strategy to promote SPA and EE.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Obesogens and Obesity: State-of-the-Science and Future Directions Summary from a Healthy Environment and Endocrine Disruptors Strategies Workshop

  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · 2023-05-23 · 25 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Changes in sensorimotor cortex oscillatory activity by <scp>orexin‐A</scp> in the ventrolateral preoptic area of the hypothalamus reflect increased muscle tone

  Journal of Neuroscience Research · 2023-04-03 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Orexin-A (OXA) is a hypothalamic neuropeptide implicated in the regulation of wakefulness, appetite, reward processing, muscle tone, motor activity, and other physiological processes. The broad range of systems affected stems from the widespread projections of orexin neurons toward multiple brain regions regulating numerous physiological processes. Orexin neurons integrate nutritional, energetic, and behavioral cues and modulate the functions of target structures. Orexin promotes spontaneous physical activity (SPA), and we recently showed that orexin injected into the ventrolateral preoptic area (VLPO) of the hypothalamus increases behavioral arousal and SPA in rats. However, the specific mechanisms underlying the role of orexin in physical activity are unknown. Here we tested the hypothesis that OXA injected into the VLPO alters the oscillatory activity in the electroencephalogram (EEG) to reflect an increased excitability of the sensorimotor cortex, which may explain the associated increase in SPA. The results showed that OXA increased wakefulness following injections into the VLPO. In addition, OXA altered the power spectrum of the EEG during the awake state by decreasing the power of 5-19 Hz oscillations and increasing the power of >35 Hz oscillations, which are markers of increased sensorimotor excitability. Consistently, we found that OXA induced greater muscle activity. Furthermore, we found a similar change in power spectrum during slow-wave sleep, which suggests that OXA altered the EEG activity in a fundamental way, even in the absence of physical activity. These results support the idea that OXA increases the excitability of the sensorimotor system, which may explain the corresponding increase in awake time, muscle tone, and SPA.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Changing the global obesity narrative to recognize and reduce weight stigma: A position statement from the World Obesity Federation

  Obesity Reviews · 2023 · 158 citations

  • Political Science
  • Sociology
  • Political Science

  Weight stigma, defined as pervasive misconceptions and stereotypes associated with higher body weight, is both a social determinant of health and a human rights issue. It is imperative to consider how weight stigma may be impeding health promotion efforts on a global scale. The World Obesity Federation (WOF) convened a global working group of practitioners, researchers, policymakers, youth advocates, and individuals with lived experience of obesity to consider the ways that global obesity narratives may contribute to weight stigma. Specifically, the working group focused on how overall obesity narratives, food and physical activity narratives, and scientific and public-facing language may contribute to weight stigma. The impact of weight stigma across the lifespan was also considered. Taking a global perspective, nine recommendations resulted from this work for global health research and health promotion efforts that can help to reduce harmful obesity narratives, both inside and outside health contexts.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Increasing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the fields of nutrition and obesity: A roadmap to equity in academia

  American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · 2023-03-10 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Behavioral plasticity: Role of neuropeptides in shaping feeding responses

  Appetite · 2022-04-05 · 3 citations

  review
  PublisherDOI

• Orexin enhances neuronal synchronization in adult rat hypothalamic culture: a model to study hypothalamic function

  Journal of Neurophysiology · 2022-03-30 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  This study, for the first time, demonstrates that adult hypothalamic cultures are viable in vitro for a prolonged duration and are electrophysiologically active. In addition, the study shows that orexin enhances neural synchronization in adult hypothalamic cultures.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Orexin A enhances neuronal synchronization in adult rat hypothalamic culture: A model to study hypothalamic function

  The FASEB Journal · 2022-05-01

  articleSenior author

  Background The regulation of sleep/wake behavior and energy homeostasis is maintained in part by the lateral hypothalamic (LH) neuropeptide orexin A (OXA, hypocretin). A reduction in orexin signaling is associated with sleep disorders and obesity, whereas higher LH orexin signaling and sensitivity promotes obesity resistance. Similarly, dysregulation of hypothalamic neural networks is associated with onset of age‐related diseases, including obesity and several neurological diseases. Despite the increase in obesity with aging, and that adult populations are the subjects in the majority of pharmaceutical and obesity studies, conventional models for neuronal networks utilize embryonic neural cultures rather than adult neurons. Synchronous activity, a feature of normal brain function, and a measure of functional connectivity, describes correlated changes in neuronal activity between neurons, Synchronization determines the nature of the final output from a given neural structure. Neural synchrony is altered by behavioral perturbations, in embryonic neurons obtained from obesity‐resistant rats, and following application of OXA onto embryonic hypothalamic cultures. Synchronous network dynamics in adult hypothalamic neurons remain largely undescribed. Methods We established an adult rat hypothalamic culture in multi‐electrode‐array (MEA) dishes and recorded the field potentials. Then we studied the effect of exogenous OXA on network synchronization of these adult hypothalamic cultures. In addition, we studied the wake promoting effects of OXA in vivo when directly injected into the rostral lateral hypothalamus (rLH). To study the wake promoting effects of LH OXA, rats were implanted with a radiotelemetric transmitter and EEG/EMG electrodes to record vigilance states (F40‐EET, Data Sciences International [DSI], St. Paul, MN), and a cannula targeting the rLH. Following surgical recovery, either OXA (250 pmol/0.5 μl) or saline was infused into the rLH (single injection) and sleep/wake states were measured for 2h post‐injection. Results The results show that adult hypothalamic cultures are viable for nearly 3 months in vitro , good quality MEA recordings can be obtained from these cultures in vitro , and finally, that cultured adult hypothalamus is responsive to OXA. In addition, LH administration of OXA enhanced wakefulness in rats, indicating that OXA enhances wakefulness for up to 2h post‐injection. Conclusions These results support that adult rat hypothalamic cultures could be used as a model to study the neural mechanisms underlying obesity, and that obesity resistance is associated with increased hypothalamus synchronization. Increased wake following rLH OXA suggest the possibility that OXA promotes wake partly by promoting neural synchrony in the hypothalamus.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Orexin and serotonin interactions to promote physical activity and prevent obesity

  NIH · 2017–2022

• Role of Variability in SPA in Susceptibility to Obesity

  NIH · $280k · 2014–2018

• Minnesota Obesity Prevention Training (MnOPT)

  NIH · $330k · 2010–2020

• NIH Grant R01DK057573

  NIH · $964k · 2005

• Minnesota Obesity Prevention Training (MnOPT)

  NIH · $4.8M · 2010–2026

Frequent coauthors

• Charles J. Billington

  University of Minnesota

  258 shared

• Allen S. Levine

  141 shared

• Jennifer A. Teske

  University of Arizona

  134 shared

• Claudio E. Perez‐Leighton

  Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

  62 shared

• Vijayakumar Mavanji

  Minneapolis VA Health Care System

  46 shared

• Chuanfeng Wang

  Xihua University

  46 shared

• Joshua P. Nixon

  University of Minnesota

  36 shared

• Blake A. Gosnell

  32 shared

Labs

• Kotz LabPI