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21 Apr 2021 Share:
Ever stood at your refridgerator staring into it and wishing you could switch off the hunger pangs that took you there in the first place? Now, with the help of one family s genetic disposition to suffer uncontrollable and persistent hunger, researchers have uncovered the mechanism of action of the master switch for hunger in the brain shedding new light on the way hunger is regulated. Results have uncovered a 3D structure that reveals how a unique molecular switch in our brain causes us to feel full - and may help develop improved anti-obesity drugs.
Being constantly hungry, no matter how much you eat - that s the daily struggle of people with genetic defects in the brain s appetite controls, and it often ends in severe obesity.
When Hebrew University of Jerusalem medical student Hadar Israeli studied a family with multiple members suffering from severe obesity and plagued with constant hunger, she found that they all shared a common mutation affecting a specific receptor in the brain: Melanocortin Receptor 4, or MC4.
Though scientists have long known that the MC4 receptor was in some way connected to hunger and appetite, Israeli helped uncover just how instrumental it was in regulating our sensations of hunger and fullness.
To further investigate this matter, Israeli turned to Moran Shalev-Benami of the Weizmann Instituteâs chemical and structural biology department. Could new advances in electron microscopy help explain how this mutation produces such a devastating effect of constant hunger?
Did Israeli scientists find the switch that tells us if we re hungry? stljewishlight.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stljewishlight.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Israeli scientists find brain s hunger switch jns.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from jns.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.