Originally published November 7 2005
Brain researchers uncover new information on the brain's capacity to regulate body weight
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have published research that advances medical understanding of how the brain regulates body weight.
Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have demonstrated for the first time that the neuronal pathways that help to keep body weight stable diverge at the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) to regulate either food intake or energy expenditure.
Their findings are published in the November 4, 2005, issue of the journal Cell.
This unexpected discovery helps to extend the understanding of the complex neurocircuitry behind body weight control, an endeavor that began more than a decade ago with the identification of the leptin hormone.
"Maintaining a stable body weight is a delicate balancing act between the amount of food eaten versus the number of calories burned," says Bradford B. Lowell, MD, PhD, of BIDMC's department of endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism who, together with Joel K. Elmquist, DVM, PhD, served as co-senior author of the study.
"The brain controls both food intake and calories expended with the purpose of keeping body weight stable.
When something goes wrong with this process, obesity results," Dr. Lowell explains.
Finally, the brain makes appropriate alterations in food intake and energy expenditure in order to maintain "energy balance" and prevent obesity.
"Scientists have known that by activating MC4Rs, body weight can be reduced," explains lead author Nina Balthasar, PhD, a member of Lowell's laboratory and an instructor in medicine at HMS.
In earlier mouse studies, when all MC4 receptors were removed, the animals became morbidly obese, Balthasar notes.
In this new study Balthasar and her coauthors set out to identify the exact groups of neurons responsible for producing these important effects of MC4 receptors.
"This suggested to us that the MC4Rs in the PVH and/or amygdala were key MC4Rs in the regulation of body weight."
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