this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2023
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Science

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Brain's Weight Switch Found: May Let Us Eat What We Want, Finally (neurosciencenews.com)
submitted 1 year ago by will_a113@lemmy.ml to c/science@beehaw.org
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A new discovery reveals that astrocytes, star-shaped cells in the brain, play a key role in regulating fat metabolism and obesity. These cells act on a cluster of neurons, known as the GABRA5 cluster, effectively acting as a “switch” for weight regulation.

The MAO-B enzyme in these astrocytes was identified as a target for obesity treatment, influencing GABA secretion and thus weight regulation.

KDS2010, a selective and reversible MAO-B inhibitor, successfully led to weight loss in obese mice without impacting their food intake, even while consuming a high-fat diet, and is now in Phase 1 clinical trials.

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[–] tiny_electron@beehaw.org 20 points 1 year ago (24 children)

But where does all the excess energy go? You can't cheat basic physics

[–] Umbrias@beehaw.org 43 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You just don't digest as much nor store as much calories. So your feces and urine, as well as exhalation.

It's not cheating basic physics, there's just a lot of misunderstanding about how weight works in biology. Cico is not what many people believe it to be.

[–] Natanael@slrpnk.net 7 points 1 year ago

Absorbed calories in spent calories out would be more accurate, but nobody wants to do the more complicated math.

And some processes can technically be calorie neutral and still affect weight (like say how much water we hold)

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