METABOLIC DISEASE

A matter of fat: ghrelin hormone promotes storage of energy as fat

The hormone ghrelin is produced at high levels in the stomach when we are hungry and at decreased levels after meals. As such, this hormone plays a critical role in signaling the brain when we are hungry or full and has become an important focus of obesity research. In a study appearing online on June 8 in advance of print publication in the July issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Francoise Rohner-Jeanrenaud and colleagues from Centre Medical University, Geneva, show that signaling networks in the brain involving ghrelin not only promote food intake but also directly regulate the processing of nutrients by adipose cells. The authors showed that ghrelin administration into the brain of rats may "prime" adipose tissue to store energy as fat by altering the expression of genes that code for adipocyte enzymes involved in nutrient metabolism. The authors suggest that, with further research, drugs that interact with these enzymes and their receptors may be of potential therapeutic value in obesity.

TITLE: Ghrelin action in the brain controls adipocyte metabolism

AUTHOR CONTACT:
Francoise Rohner-Jeanrenaud
Centre Medical University, Geneva, Switzerland.
Phone: 41-22-379-54-36; Fax: 41-22-379-52-60; E-mail: Francoise.Jeanrenaud@medecine.unige.ch.

View the PDF of this article at: https://www.the-jci.org/article.php?id=25811

CARDIOLOGY

Selective enzyme interaction contributes to cardiac hypertrophy

Nucleosomes package DNA into chromosomes inside the cell nucleus and help control gene expression. Enzymes known as Class IIa histone deacetylases (HDACs) cause histone de
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Contact: Brooke Grindlinger
press_releases@the-jci.org
212-342-9006
Journal of Clinical Investigation
8-Jun-2006