increased appetite tagged posts

Brain’s Immune cells may drive Overeating and Weight Gain

A mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH) section shows microglia (green) in contact with AgRP neurons (red), which are critical hypothalamic neurons in the regulation of food intake and body weight. Credit: Image by the Suneil Koliwad Lab

A mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH) section shows microglia (green) in contact with AgRP neurons (red), which are critical hypothalamic neurons in the regulation of food intake and body weight. Credit: Image by the Suneil Koliwad Lab

Diet study finds link between brain inflammation and obesity in mice. Immune cells in the brain trigger overeating and weight gain in response to diets rich in fat, according to a new study in mice led by researchers from UC San Francisco and the University of Washington Medical Center. Brain-resident microglia could be targets for obesity treatments that might avoid many side effects of the obesity drugs currently in clinical use.

“Microglia are not neurons, but they account for 10 to 15% of the cells in the brain,” said Suneil Koliwad, MD, PhD, assistant profess...

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Dietary Iron Intake, equivalent to Heavy Red Meat consumption, Suppresses Leptin, a hormone that regulates Appetite

Serum leptin and adipocyte leptin mRNA levels decrease with dietary iron...

Serum leptin and adipocyte leptin mRNA levels decrease with dietary iron overload. (A) Iron levels measured by ferrozine-based colorimetric assay in mice fed low normal– and high-iron diet (n = 4 mice/group). (B) Tfrc mRNA levels quantified by qPCR and normalized to cyclophilin A in adipose tissue from mice fed different levels of dietary iron (n = 6 mice/group). (C) Serum leptin levels from the mice (n = 6 mice/group). (D) Intracellular leptin levels by Western blotting. Data are representative of 3 experiments with n = 4 per replicate. (E) Quantification of leptin protein levels from D normalized to tubulin (n = 4 mice/group). (F) Leptin mRNA levels quantified by qPCR and normalized to cyclophilin A in adipose tissue from mice fed different dietary iron (n = 6 mice/group)...

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