Hopkins Scientists Uncover Cause of Antipsychotic Drug Weight Gain
Posted on: Tuesday, 13 February 2007, 09:04 CST
Johns Hopkins scientists have uncovered why some drugs used for treating mental illnesses cause patients to gain weight, providing hope that antipsychotic drugs could be developed without these side effects.
Previous research had identified that increased levels and actions of the enzyme, AMPK, as a control lever for appetite.
Suspecting that antipsychotic drugs might spike AMPK in the brain to overact, the Johns Hopkins team injected mice with Clozaril, which, with Zyprexa and Risperdal, is commonly prescribed for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Medicines such as Eli Lilly's Zyprexa have faced concerns about weight gain that can often develop life-threatening complications such as diabetes and heart disease.
Mice given Clozaril showed quadrupled AMPK activity compared to activity measured pre-drug. The researchers then gave the mice leptin, a hormone that suppresses appetite, and saw lowered AMPK levels.
The researchers decided to manipulate cell-signaling proteins in the brain and found that blocking one in particular, a receptor site for histamine, activates AMPK to the same extent as Clozaril.
When the team gave Clozaril to mice genetically engineered without a histamine receptor, this resulted in no heightened activity.
"Our identification of the molecular players that link such drugs to increased food intake means there's now hope for finding a newer generation of drugs without the weight-gain side effects," said Solomon Snyder, professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Source: Datamonitor
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User Comments (1)
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Posted by Elizabeth beavers on 02/13/2007, 14:33 Thank heavens for this research and the findings. I have bipolar disorder and every medication I was tried on increased my weight until I went from 180 to 293 lbs. I finally had to decide whether to stop the medications and return to my mood swings or to get surgery for weight loss. Since my husband says he wouldn't live with me with my bipolar symptoms... I chose to have the lap-band surgery. Even with the surgery, I am losing much slower then normal patients. It's the drugs. It's a shame that the medication side effects for bipolar disorder is as bad as the disease and leads to more depression based on the loss of self confidence due to the weight gain. |
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