Study identifies potential targets for pharmacological efforts to tackle obesity

Potential targets have been identified for pharmacological efforts to address obesity

Overweight people may be hard wired to overeat, with a new study paving the way for potential targets of pharmacological efforts to combat obesity.
According to the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, normal weight and obese mice responded differently when a receptor in their brain was triggered to release the orexin A peptide - which stimulates the appetite.
Activation of the receptor in normal weight mice led to a decrease in orexin A release, but stimulated orexin A release in obese mice.
The study showed that in obesity, CB1 cannabinoid receptors become enriched on the nerve terminals that normally inhibit orexin neuron activity.
Triggering these CB1 receptors reduced the inhibition of the orexin neurons, resulting in an increase in orexin A release and food consumption.
Professor Ken Mackie, of the department of psychological and brains sciences at the College of Arts and Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington, commented on the findings.
He said: "This study identifies a mechanism for the body's ongoing tendency to return to the heavier weight."