FIGURE 3: Hypothetical involvement of the appetite-stimulatory effects of ACBP/DBI-in two distinct circuitries: (i) an acute neuroendocrine feedback loop that is activated by starvation or fasting and involves the release of pre-formed ACBP/DBI protein from the intracellular to the extracellular space by a mechanism that involves autophagy and (ii) a chronic feedforward loop in which obesity-associate weight gain causes an increase in ACBP/DBI protein levels, likely through transcriptional activation of the ACBP/DBI gene. While the feedback loop would reflect homeostatic regulation for the maintenance of energy balance, the feedforward loop would participate in the pathogenesis of obesity.