Brain's immune cells may drive overeating and weight gain
Originally shared by Ward Plunet
Brain's immune cells may drive overeating and weight gain
Immune cells in the brain trigger overeating and weight gain in response to diets rich in fat, according to a new study in mice led by researchers from UC San Francisco and the University of Washington Medical Center, and published online on July 5 in Cell Metabolism. Neurons within a region at the base of the brain known as the hypothalamus, which plays a crucial role in eating, have long been a target for the development of drugs to treat obesity. But the new study suggests that brain-resident immune cells called microglia could also be targets for obesity treatments that might avoid many side effects of the obesity drugs currently in clinical use. "Microglia are not neurons, but they account for 10 to 15 percent of the cells in the brain," said Suneil Koliwad, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at the UCSF Diabetes Center, and a co-senior author of the new study. "They represent an untapped and completely novel way to target the brain in order to potentially mitigate obesity and its health consequences."
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-07-brain-immune-cells-overeating-weight.html#jCp
Brain's immune cells may drive overeating and weight gain
Immune cells in the brain trigger overeating and weight gain in response to diets rich in fat, according to a new study in mice led by researchers from UC San Francisco and the University of Washington Medical Center, and published online on July 5 in Cell Metabolism. Neurons within a region at the base of the brain known as the hypothalamus, which plays a crucial role in eating, have long been a target for the development of drugs to treat obesity. But the new study suggests that brain-resident immune cells called microglia could also be targets for obesity treatments that might avoid many side effects of the obesity drugs currently in clinical use. "Microglia are not neurons, but they account for 10 to 15 percent of the cells in the brain," said Suneil Koliwad, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at the UCSF Diabetes Center, and a co-senior author of the new study. "They represent an untapped and completely novel way to target the brain in order to potentially mitigate obesity and its health consequences."
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-07-brain-immune-cells-overeating-weight.html#jCp
Comments
Post a Comment