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Research in mice has demonstrated the important role of the protein ACBP in regulating body weight.
Weight and Appetite
Your weight is determined by how much energy enters your body and how your body then uses or stores this energy.
In many articles, I have tried to make it clear that you have much less influence on these variables than you are often led to believe. Adhering to a certain diet is of course much more difficult if you have a much larger appetite due to certain substances than others.
Researchers at the University of Montreal have been conducting research on a protein that plays a special role in determining appetite for several years.
The results were published in the
Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Proteins and Neurons
The researchers have demonstrated in mice that the protein ACBP (acyl-CoA-binding protein) has a direct influence on the neurons that enable rodents, as well as humans, to maintain a healthy weight.
In 2015, the team demonstrated that the protein ACBP enables astrocytes to convey information about variations in the amount of fatty acids and lipids in the bloodstream to neurons. Astrocytes are support cells that enable neuronal functions.
Put very simply, in this way, the brain receives information about the available nutrients in the body, and that information can be translated into appetite or satiety. A feedback system that can regulate food and energy intake in this way and thereby weight.
Increasing or Decreasing Appetite
In new research, they have now demonstrated that neurons responsible for reducing the amount of food eaten (proopiomelanocortin neurons, POMC neurons) communicate with astrocytes that produce ACBP in a specific part of the hypothalamus [1].
This area in the hypothalamus contains two groups of neurons with opposing functions when activated. The first group causes you to eat more while the second group causes you to eat less and expend more energy. These are the POMC neurons.
Losing 5% of Body Weight in 5 Days
According to Thierry Alquier of the University of Montreal, genetic mutations can explain 5 to 10 percent of cases of overweight. Much of this would be related to disruption of the so-called
melanocortin pathway.
Removing the ACBP gene in astrocytes in this part of the hypothalamus promotes overweight. Conversely, the researchers also injected ACBP daily into mice genetically modified to be obese. This caused the mice to eat less and lose 5 percent of their body weight in 5 days.
From Mouse to Human
However, it is of course questionable to what extent these results can ultimately be translated to humans. The research is still in an early stage.
In any case, it is once again a development on which some may pin their hopes for the future.
- Khalil Bouyakdan, Hugo Martin, Fabienne Liénard, Lionel Budry, Bouchra Taib, Demetra Rodaros, Chloé Chrétien, Éric Biron, Zoé Husson, Daniela Cota, Luc Pénicaud, Stephanie Fulton, Xavier Fioramonti, Thierry Alquier. The gliotransmitter ACBP controls feeding and energy homeostasis via the melanocortin system. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2019;
- https://www.jci.org/articles/view/123454
