Breakthrough Resistance to the satiety hormone Leptin causes obesity

If you do not get full: Leptin resistance causes overweight

The number of overweight people in Germany is still at a very high level. Many sufferers miss the feeling of being full. Researchers have now found that resistance to the satiety hormone plays an important role.

Unhealthy overweight

Considering that overweight or obesity can lead to health problems such as high blood pressure and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, such as heart attack, there are truly enough reasons to get rid of excess pounds. But many overweight people miss the feeling of being full. Until now it was assumed that this was due to a disturbed transport of the satiety hormone leptin into the brain. This is not correct, as German researchers could now show.

Previously, it was thought that the delivery of the satiety hormone leptin into the brain is responsible for many overweight individuals missing the feeling of filling themselves. This is not true, as researchers could now show. (Image: Kurhan / fotolia.com)

Why many overweight people do not get full

So far it has been assumed that a disturbed transport of the satiety hormone leptin into the brain is responsible for the fact that overweight people simply are not fed up.

However, a group of scientists from the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) has now been able to demonstrate with the aid of a new 3D imaging method that this is not the case.

As the researchers describe in an article in the journal "International Journal of Obesity", the cause seems to lie in the nerve cells.

Transport of leptin visualized

"In thick mice and humans, leptin is released in high concentration from adipose tissue into the bloodstream, but does not activate its satiety centers in the brain," explains Luke Harrison, PhD student at Helmholtz Zentrum München and first author of the study in a statement.

"So far, it was assumed that the cause of their hormone resistance is a disrupted transport process," said the expert.

Since the leptin can only overcome the blood-brain barrier to a limited extent, so the theory, is less in the saturation centers.

However, with a novel 3D method, researchers were able to visualize and investigate the transport of leptin for the first time and refute this assumption.

The cause must be in the nerve cells

The research team led by Dr. med. Paul Pfluger, partner in the German Center for Diabetes Research, has demonstrated with the new imaging method that leptin reaches the brain in both thin and thick mice in sufficient quantities.

According to the scientists, the cause of the disturbance in eating behavior must therefore lie in the nerve cells themselves.

"We can now narrow down the cause of leptin resistance and focus our research on the molecular mechanisms within nerve cells," Dr. Paul Pfluger. (Ad)