Chinese and American researchers have discovered molecular regulators that regulate the body's fatness and thinness.

A new scientific study conducted by Chinese and American researchers has found that the “molecular regulating valve” that regulates the body’s fatness and thinness provides questions about why people are getting fat in middle age and why different people have different sensitivity to overnutrition. New molecular clues have also provided a new way of thinking for people to lose weight scientifically.

The research conducted by the Liu Yong Research Group of the Institute of Nutrition, Shanghai Institute of Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Southwestern Medical Center of the University of Texas, USA, was funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The paper has been published online in the international journal "Molecular and Cell Biology".

Scientific research has found that obesity is the “over-storage” of fat caused by environmental and multi-gene interactions. In the body's fat cells, a hormone called "leptin" can be secreted. Leptin activates the downstream signal transduction pathway by acting on the "leptin receptor" in specific neurons in the hypothalamus, thereby playing an important regulatory role in the energy metabolism balance of the human body. If the human body is over-nutrition, it will lead to "leptin resistance", that is, the loss of leptin signal transduction ability, thereby causing body obesity.

The study further found that the "leptin receptor" controls the downstream neuroendocrine function by regulating the phosphorylation of three key tyrosine sites in the intracellular domain, thereby regulating the body's energy intake and consumption. The balance between.

Chinese and American researchers have successfully developed a special mouse research model using the method of “knock-in”. They replaced the mouse's "leptin receptor" 985 tyrosine with phenylalanine Y985F. The study found that the Y985F mutant mice were slightly thinner before 15 weeks of age, but with age, after 40 weeks, there were significant metabolic disorders such as excess appetite, leptin resistance, obesity and elevated blood sugar. The mice were abnormally sensitive to overnutrition and rapidly gained weight under the induction of high-fat diet. At the same time, the expression of the negative regulator gene of "leptin signaling" in the hypothalamus of mice was also increased.

Through this study, the researchers believe that the "leptin receptor" 985 tyrosine-mediated signaling pathway plays a role in the "regulator valve" that depends on age or nutritional status, and plays an important role in the body's energy metabolism balance. Physiological effects.