Brain Region for Weight Identified

Scientists in Boston have discovered a region of the brain linked to blood sugar levels, weight and the fat hormone leptin.

Leptin is necessary for the body to monitor and maintain normal body weight and activity levels. In studies mice without leptin were inactive, obese and developed diabetes.

Scientists at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School have discovered that leptin acts on a region of the brain called the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus. Mice without receptors in this region weighed more than mice with those receptors restored and were less active.

As the incidence of obesity and diabetes continues to rise in industrialized countries, a clear understanding of the cellular and neuroanatomic pathways that control energy and glucose balance is critical to the discovery of new methods to prevent or treat these conditions, said study researcher Joel Elmquist. The current findings definitively demonstrate that the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus is required for normal body weight homeostasis and is sufficient to control leptin’s anti-diabetic actions.

A report on the research is published in the journal Cell Metabolism.