Researchers ID Weight and Energy Balance Pathway Independent of Hunger Hormone

Article title: LRP1 regulates food intake and energy balance in GABAergic neurons independently of leptin action

Authors: Min-Chel Kang, Ji A. Seo, Hyon Lee, Aykut Uner, Won-Mo Yang, Kellen Cristina Cruz Rodrigues, Hyun Jeong Kim, Wenjing Li, John Nelson Campbell, Yossi Dagon, Young-Bum Kim

From the authors: “Our study identifies a novel GABAergic [low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1] pathway that regulates body weight homeostasis and energy balance and drives anorexigenic action in parallel but independent of the leptin signaling pathway. Furthermore, our findings that obesity can develop in the absence of hypothalamic leptin resistance imply that conventional signature in hypothalamic leptin signal may not always be a reliable indicator for the development of obesity.” 

This study is highlighted as one of February’s “best of the best” as part of the American Physiological Society’s APSselect program.