Study suggests strategy for treating obesity

The results, which were reported by the scientists in Nature Neuroscience, suggest that restoring fatty-acid levels in the brain may be a promising way to treat obesity.

The study is related to a central area of the brain called the hypothalamus, which keeps track of the body’s nutritional status by monitoring the blood levels of several different hormones and nutrients. Taking this information into account, the hypothalamus regulates our energy intake and metabolism.

The study focused on malonyl CoA, a molecule suspected of being one of the critical nutrients influencing hypothalamic regulation of eating behavior. Previous studies had shown that hypothalamic levels of malonyl CoA increase markedly after meals and are suppressed by fasting.

The Einstein researchers wanted to know whether sustained suppression of this nutrient within the hypothalamus could result in obesity. To find out, they ‘piggybacked’ an enzyme known to degrade malonyl CoA onto an adeno-associated virus and injected the virus into the hypothalamus of rats. The injections caused a chronic decrease in malonyl CoA levels, which dramatically increased the rats’ food intake and led to obesity that was maintained for at least four months.

“Figuring out a way to re-adjust malonyl-CoA levels in the human hypothalamus could lead to innovative therapies not only to treat obesity but to help prevent diabetes and other consequences of being overweight,” said Dr Luciano Rossetti, director of the Diabetes Research Center at Einstein.