Wednesday, December 4, 2024

Disabling this gene reduces the pleasure of eating and increases the desire to exercise

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Maria Gill
Maria Gill
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An American team succeeded in reducing the pleasure of eating and increasing the level of exercise in mice, by disabling a specific gene in the brain.

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[EN VIDÉO] Of course to you: Is obesity a community disease?
Can our modern society affect diseases such as obesity? In this video, nutritionist Arno Kukul looks at the environmental pressure on our genome. According to him, air pollution, additives, and pesticides alter gene expression and can lead to so-called societal diseases, such as obesity.

L ‘obesity It is a complex disease that occurs due to several factors: Genetics, Hormonal, environmental, life cycle, etc. Therefore, in this concept, only one strategy cannot overcome this Pathology. However, we can envision several combined treatments, some of which target genetics as in this study, and others are psychology, Alerts already do Or by targeting the food structural environment of our cities.

at this studyConducted by researchers from Maryland Subsidiaries at National Institute of Health, And deactivate a uncomfortable Very specific eating behavior has drastically changed physique From Rodents. Indeed, in mice whose genes have been inactivated, we can observe a decrease in the attractiveness and consumption of delicious and rewarding foods (meaning that they are particularly stimulating to us. Rewards circuit), And increase your ‘readiness’ for exercise. Can such treatment be considered in humans?

Under the influence of our brain

The eyebrow is a brain structure that forms part of the thalamus that defines the dorsal part Diencephalon Formed fromEpiphysis, Habenola and stria Marrow. It is an area whose functions are still poorly understood. But scientists are increasingly interested in the granular neural circuit for its potential effects on AddictionAnd the RecessionAnd the Stimulus And the Bonus process.

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This circuit is under the influence of the action of a specific gene: Prkar2a. Previous experiences have already shown that altering the chordate neural circuit allows this From mice so as not to become obese Although subjected to a diet that leads to obesity. In this new experiment, changing this circuit reduces the mice’s attraction to “reward” foods and get them to exercise more, which could be a good thing in obese patients.

Leash in the treatment of obesity?

As we said, obesity is a complex disease. No single strategy can hope to overcome it. But we can imagine that Treatments An attempt to target this brain circuit could be tested for a little longer in the animal model, in order to measure potential long-term side effects before studies in humans.

In the vast majority of cases, obesity results from an inappropriate environment. It would also be a good idea to focus on structural variables such as our food environment. For example, making raw foods better available and putting them in supermarkets is better than processed foods. In this twenty-first century, the food challenge must be met in many ways. We need to rethink our diets, For the obese people as for the hungry people in the world.

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