February 16, 2025
Off Switch for Appetite
Timothy Birdnow
Wow! Scientists just discovered a neuron that switches off the appetite making the possibility of a true weight-loss medication a reality.
FTA:
This could be a godsend to the American People, who are increasingly morbidly obese. Most of America's health problems stem from being overweight.
Wow! Scientists just discovered a neuron that switches off the appetite making the possibility of a true weight-loss medication a reality.
FTA:
"Columbia scientists have discovered specialized neurons in the brains of mice that signal the animals to stop eating.
While many feeding circuits in the brain are known to regulate food intake, the neurons within these circuits do not make the final decision to stop eating.
The newly identified neurons, a previously unknown component of these circuits, are located in the brainstem—the oldest part of the vertebrate brain. This discovery could pave the way for new treatments for obesity.
"These neurons are unlike any other neuron involved in regulating satiation,” says Alexander Nectow, a physician-scientist at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, who led the research with Srikanta Chowdhury, an associate research scientist in the Nectow lab.
"Other neurons in the brain are usually restricted to sensing food put into our mouth, or how food fills the gut, or the nutrition obtained from food. The neurons we found are special in that they seem to integrate all these different pieces of information and more.”
Cells found in the brainstem
The decision to stop eating is a familiar phenomenon. "It happens every time we sit down to eat a meal: At a certain point while we’re eating, we start to feel full, and then we get fuller, and then we get to a point where we think, okay, that’s enough,” Nectow says.
How does the brain know when the body has had enough–and how does it act on that information to stop eating?
Other researchers had previously tracked the decision-making cells to the brainstem, but the leads ended there.
Nectow and Chowdhury deployed new single-cell techniques that make it possible to peer into a region of the brain and discern different types of cells that until now have been difficult to distinguish from one another.
"This technique—spatially resolved molecular profiling—allows you to see cells where they are in the brainstem and what their molecular composition looks like,” Nectow says.
During their profiling of a brainstem region known for processing complex signals, the researchers spotted previously unrecognized cells that had similar characteristics to other neurons involved in regulating appetite. "We said, ‘Oh, this is interesting. What do these neurons do?’
While many feeding circuits in the brain are known to regulate food intake, the neurons within these circuits do not make the final decision to stop eating.
The newly identified neurons, a previously unknown component of these circuits, are located in the brainstem—the oldest part of the vertebrate brain. This discovery could pave the way for new treatments for obesity.
"These neurons are unlike any other neuron involved in regulating satiation,” says Alexander Nectow, a physician-scientist at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, who led the research with Srikanta Chowdhury, an associate research scientist in the Nectow lab.
"Other neurons in the brain are usually restricted to sensing food put into our mouth, or how food fills the gut, or the nutrition obtained from food. The neurons we found are special in that they seem to integrate all these different pieces of information and more.”
Cells found in the brainstem
The decision to stop eating is a familiar phenomenon. "It happens every time we sit down to eat a meal: At a certain point while we’re eating, we start to feel full, and then we get fuller, and then we get to a point where we think, okay, that’s enough,” Nectow says.
How does the brain know when the body has had enough–and how does it act on that information to stop eating?
Other researchers had previously tracked the decision-making cells to the brainstem, but the leads ended there.
Nectow and Chowdhury deployed new single-cell techniques that make it possible to peer into a region of the brain and discern different types of cells that until now have been difficult to distinguish from one another.
"This technique—spatially resolved molecular profiling—allows you to see cells where they are in the brainstem and what their molecular composition looks like,” Nectow says.
During their profiling of a brainstem region known for processing complex signals, the researchers spotted previously unrecognized cells that had similar characteristics to other neurons involved in regulating appetite. "We said, ‘Oh, this is interesting. What do these neurons do?’
This could be a godsend to the American People, who are increasingly morbidly obese. Most of America's health problems stem from being overweight.
Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at
01:40 PM
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Posted by: SMM Panel at February 17, 2025 03:33 AM (ItL6O)
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Posted by: Efortless at February 17, 2025 01:39 PM (L2udz)
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