Researchers were able to reverse anorexia symptoms in mice by increasing levels of a peptide important to stimulating hunger.
Scientists have taken a step closer to finding a drug for the difficult-to-treat eating disorder anorexia. In experiments with mice, the researchers showed that increasing levels of a peptide important to stimulating hunger could reverse anorexia symptoms. More research will be needed to figure out whether a similar approach can be safely and effectively done in humans, however.
ACBP is produced by many types of cells, but it isn’t released into the body the way most proteins are; instead, it’s released when cells are broken down. To work around this limitation, the researchers created a “chemical-genetic delivery system” that would prompt their mice’s liver cells to release ACBP on command when the mice were given supplements of biotin, or vitamin B7.
In mice with both forms of anorexia, the increase of ACBP reversed their symptoms, the researchers found. Biologically, the added ACBP also appeared to reverse the activity of melanocortin 4 receptors in the brain’s hypothalamus, which are known to play a part in suppressing appetite. A similar reversal was seen when the mice were given more ACBP intravenously or via a subcutaneous pump.
“The supplementation of was able to impede the loss of body fat, lean weight, and bone mass present in several models of anorexia,” the researchers wrote.While this research does point to the eventual possibility of a drug for anorexia, the scientists caution that more work is needed to untangle exactly how ACBP affects appetite in humans. Anorexia in humans is also often a complex disorder affected by psychological or other factors that can’t be modeled easily in mice.
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