GO Leptin, GO... as long as Axokine is on your back!
Amgen's Leptin Decreases Pleasure of Eating, New Research Says
Amgen's Leptin Decreases Pleasure of Eating, New Research Says
Washington, Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Amgen Inc.'s experimental
weight-loss hormone leptin appears to work by decreasing the
pleasure of eating and increasing the enjoyment of other
activities, according to new research conducted in mice.
The study, to be published next week in the journal Science,
may give insight into the way the drug lowers weight. Unlike
Roche Holding AG's new diet drug Xenical, which works by blocking
the body's ability to process fat, leptin appears to work by
changing behavior.
Researchers at Concordia University in Montreal compared
mice who had been placed on a restricted-calorie diet with mice
who coupled the low-calories diet with leptin injections.
Those mice were then hooked up to a device that pleasurably
stimulated specific regions of the brain when certain levers were
pushed. Low-calorie diets enhanced pleasure in one of those brain
regions, the researchers said, and hungry mice were likely to
press the corresponding lever more frequently.
Mice injected with leptin, however, pressed that lever less
often than those who didn't receive the hormone, which the
researchers said was an indication that leptin dulls the
neurological ''reward'' of eating.
At the same time, mice injected with leptin were more likely
than other hungry mice to press levers that stimulated parts of
the brain that have nothing to do with hunger.
Thousand Oaks, California-based Amgen has begun human
testing of the drug, which must be injected, for use in seriously
overweight patients.
Leptin -- sought for decades -- is a natural hormone made by
fat cells that helps regulate body weight by sending signals to
the central nervous system to depress hunger and appetite while
increasing metabolism. |
