A Matter Of Fat: Ghrelin Hormone Promotes Storage Of Energy As Fat

Main Category: Obesity / Weight Loss / Fitness
Article Date: 11 Jun 2006 - 5:00 PDT

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The hormone ghrelin is produced at high levels in the stomach when we are hungry and at decreased levels after meals. As such, this hormone plays a critical role in signaling the brain when we are hungry or full and has become an important focus of obesity research. In a study appearing online in June in advance of print publication in the July issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Francoise Rohner-Jeanrenaud and colleagues from Centre Medical University, Geneva, show that signaling networks in the brain involving ghrelin not only promote food intake but also directly regulate the processing of nutrients by adipose cells. The authors showed that ghrelin administration into the brain of rats may "prime" adipose tissue to store energy as fat by altering the expression of genes that code for adipocyte enzymes involved in nutrient metabolism. The authors suggest that, with further research, drugs that interact with these enzymes and their receptors may be of potential therapeutic value in obesity.

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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TITLE: Ghrelin action in the brain controls adipocyte metabolism

AUTHOR CONTACT:
Francoise Rohner-Jeanrenaud
Centre Medical University, Geneva, Switzerland.

View the PDF of this article at: http://https://www.the-jci.org/article.php?id=25811

JCI Highlights, June 2006

Contact: Brooke Grindlinger
Journal of Clinical Investigation