Sunday, August 19, 2012

From Imperial College-London: Obesity and appetite control

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22899902


 2012;2012:824305. Epub 2012 Aug 1.

Obesity and appetite control.

Source

Section of Investigative Medicine, Imperial College London, Commonwealth Building, Du Cane Road, London W12 0NN, UK.

Abstract

Obesity is one of the major challenges to human health worldwide; however, there are currently no effective pharmacological interventions for obesity. Recent studies have improved our understanding of energy homeostasis by identifying sophisticated neurohumoral networks which convey signals between the brain and gut in order to control food intake. The hypothalamus is a key region which possesses reciprocal connections between the higher cortical centres such as reward-related limbic pathways, and the brainstem. Furthermore, the hypothalamus integrates a number of peripheral signals which modulate food intake and energy expenditure. Gut hormones, such as peptide YY, pancreatic polypeptide, glucagon-like peptide-1, oxyntomodulin, and ghrelin, are modulated by acute food ingestion. In contrast, adiposity signals such as leptin and insulin are implicated in both short- and long-term energy homeostasis. In this paper, we focus on the role of gut hormones and their related neuronal networks (the gut-brain axis) in appetite control, and their potentials as novel therapies for obesity.

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