New types of brain cells can tell us when to stop eating

Neurons in the minds of mice tell them that when they have enough food, prevent them from eating – and since people probably have similar cells, we can manipulate them one day to help treat obesity one day .

“The major questions that we wanted to answer was that how the brain is and reacts to different signs,” Alexander Necto At Columbia University in New York.

To learn more, he and his colleagues used a type of molecular profiles to differentiate between different cell types in the brain of mice. In the dorsal rafe nuclei – a part of the brainstem associated with functions including eating, mood and sleep – they come beyond cells that produce a hormone called cholecystocinin, which helps to regulate hunger.

To study that these cells are sensing them to kick them in action, researchers measured their activity as mice told about their day. “Every time the animals used to go to the bite of food, the activity increased and then decayed,” Necto says. “We are able to show that these neurons understand the smell and vision of food, taste of food, food sensation in the intestine and neural hormones, which are released in response to food in the intestine, and that information Let’s take advantage. To really finish a meal. ,

Subsequently, the researchers used a technique called optogenetics, which includes engineering neurons so that they can be turned on and off with light. When they used light to activate them, mice slowed their food. The more intense the activation, the faster the animals slowed down and then stopped.

Because neurons sit in the brainstem, an ancestral feature that is similar to the vertebrae, the nectar feels that we probably have it. “Even though we have not confirmed this, I estimate that humans have these neurons, of course.”

The team also found that mouse neurons can be activated by a compound called glucagon such as peptide -1 (GLP -1) agonist, a type of medicine used to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes, most The familiar semaglutide is sold under. Brand names such as ozmpic and vegovi.

If these neurons have the same task in people, then we can in principle to modify them to control eating habits in those with obesity or even this approach to GLP-1 based drugs Connect with, to achieve more weight loss, Necto is called.

“Understanding the circuitry that controls the termination of food, is particularly important in the atmosphere of almost universal food availability,” says Jeff Davis At the University of Swansi, UK. “Authors used an elegant method to identify these important cell populations.”