Posted on 01/20/2006 11:22:01 PM PST by neverdem
With an obesity epidemic sweeping through the developed world, scientists are eager to imitate the molecular signals that tell the body, "You've had enough!" while blocking those that prod "bon appetite!" Now, researchers have zeroed in on a new drug target that may bring them closer to this goal--a molecular messenger that influences how much rats eat.
Appetite is governed by a series of feedback loops. One of these involves malonyl-coenzyme A (CoA), a molecule generated by the breakdown of carbohydrates and fats. When we're hungry, it's barely detectable in the brain; after a meal, however, its levels spike, signaling the body to start burning energy.
To see if malonyl-CoA would be a good target for a weight loss drug, diabetes researcher Luciano Rossetti of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City and colleagues injected a substance that reduced levels of malonyl-CoA into the hypothalamus of the rats' brains. The injection had dramatic results: Treated rats ate 25% more food than their untreated counterparts and more than doubled the amount of fat in their bodies, the researchers reported 17 January in Nature Neuroscience. "It's almost like we tricked the brain to think there is a decrease in nutrients available," says Rossetti.
The effect was long-lasting: The rats continued to gain weight for 2 weeks after being injected and remained obese for at least 4 months. Rossetti says selectively increasing malonyl-CoA levels in the hypothalamus--say, with a compound that has the opposite effect of the one used in the study--could reduce appetite and lead to a valuable weight loss drug.
Still, an effective obesity drug based on malonyl-CoA is a long way off, says biochemist Daniel Lane of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. But he says the study should convince investigators that the compound is a good alternative to leptin, which has held most of the spotlight as a target for obesity research. "It's going to cure all the doubting Thomases," he says.
Maybe I should sell a one page book and make millions.
(from age 17 to age 56... same weight - 150 lbs.)
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