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Researchers Find Possible Fat Fighter
A chemical that kills a mouse's interest in food within 20 minutes might hold the key to weight loss, researchers at Johns Hopkins University reported in the June 30 issue of the journal Science. The researchers say the study shows a major pathway to the brain that the body uses to regulate appetite, at least in mice.
The fat loss was a side effect of the chemical, which is being studied for its possible effect on cancer cells. The research could also help scientists to understand the wasting of body tissue that happens in cancer and infectious diseases.
The researchers injected mice with a single dose of a chemical called C75. The mice soon stopped eating and lost up to 30 percent of their weight, depending on how much C75 they received. The chemical made the mice's brains think the mice had eaten, so their metabolism never slowed and they burned fat. The injection wore off in a few days and the mice resumed normal feeding.
The mice who were injected with C75 lost more weight than other mice who were merely denied food. The key appears to be that the metabolism of the injected mice stayed the same. As in people who fast, the metabolism of mice that are fasting slows down and the weight loss slows down, too.
C75 is a small member of a family of organic molecules called butyrolactones. The Johns Hopkins researchers aimed to use C75 to inhibit fatty acid synthase (FAS), an enzyme the body uses to create fatty acids, which are the building blocks of body fat. Cancer cells produce their own FAS for fuel, so scientists wanted to see if an FAS blocker would fight cancer.
"We are not claiming to have found the fabled weight-loss drug," said Frank Kuhajda, a pathologist and biochemist who was a research team member. Whether a similar weight loss would occur in humans is not clear and needs more research, the team said.
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