Neuroscientists from McGill University has discovered a group of nerve cells that play a crucial role in the regulation of appetite and tendency to obesity. NG2-glial cells turned out to be responsible for the feeling of satiety, and the violation of their activity in anti-cancer therapy contributes to increased appetite. The results are published in the journal Cell Metabolism.
About two decades ago, scientists found that appetite is controlled by the hormone leptin, secreted by fat cells. It’s delivered by blood flow to the brain, where signals of certain centers of the past that we are full and can no longer have. Although leptin receptors have been found in the hypothalamus, has remained unknown how leptin affects food intake and weight.
In the new study, the researchers were able to answer this question. They drew attention to the cells in the median Eminence of the hypothalamus, which are divided throughout the greater part of his life. The researchers used a special drug that promotes loss of NG2-glial cells. It turned out that without these neurons the brain of experimental mice can no longer receive signals from fat cells.
Three days after start of treatment, some animals started eating much larger quantities than the control group of mice that did not receive inhibitor glial cells. For 30 days their weight has doubled from 25 to 50 grams. I wonder what other NG2-glial cells that were outside of the median elevation, were not affected.
Scientists believe that here is hidden the answer to the question of why patients with cancer of the brain in a strange way tend to gain weight. Irradiation usually leads to the suppression division of glial cells that leads to uncontrolled appetite. New methods aimed at maintaining populations of neurons in the hypothalamus, can help in the treatment of obesity.
