Researchers are taking a closer look at how the brain may influence overeating, especially when it comes to high-fat foods that are easy to find and hard to pass up, according to ScienceDaily.
In a study led by Professor Shigenobu Matsumura of Osaka Metropolitan University, the team focused on a mitochondrial fusion protein called OPA1 in hypothalamic MC4R neurons. They compared normal mice with mice that had OPA1 removed from those neurons.
When the animals had free access to soybean oil, the researchers found that OPA1 levels increased in male wild-type mice, but not in females. Mice without OPA1 ate more, gained more weight over time, and developed obesity.
The team also found that OPA1-deficient mice ate more fat and gained more weight when given a choice between standard chow and soybean oil. Those effects were especially strong in females. The study further showed that setmelanotide, an anti-obesity MC4R agonist, suppressed appetite in control males and OPA1-deficient males, but it worked less effectively in OPA1-deficient females.
According to Matsumura, the findings offer new insight into obesity through the lens of neuronal energy metabolism and could help guide future treatments that take sex differences into account.
