5/9/2022–|Last update: 5/9/202203:13 PM (Mecca)
“The secret of weight loss lies in the brain,” scientists say, now that researchers have recently identified the neurons that transmit messages from fat cells to the brain, according to the journal Science Daily.
The scientists involved in the study believe that the implications of this result will be profound, as the study published in the scientific journal “Nature” found that messages directed to fatty tissue by the brain affect the body’s metabolic processes, which means that the brain affects weight rather than just responding For hormonal signals in the blood.
In the latest study, co-authors (Yi and Erdem Patbutian), led by a team from the Scripps Research Institute, developed two new ways to look at the relationship between sensory neurons and adipose tissue.
The researchers first used an imaging method called HYBRiD that made mice tissues transparent, allowing them to trace the pathways of neurons through fat or adipose tissue.
“The discovery of these neurons suggests for the first time that your brain is actively surveying your fat …”
Scientists eavesdrop on communication between fat and brain
https://t.co/fhUh6OyZlV pic.twitter.com/XKGcYL4A0J— Science To Live By (@sciencetoliveby) September 5, 2022
To find out how neurons in adipose tissue function, the researchers used another new technique they called ROOT for an ‘improved organ-tracking retrotransmitter’. This allowed them to selectively destroy small portions of sensory neurons in adipose tissue to observe what had happened.
Through this, the researchers discovered that nearly half of these neurons do not connect to the sympathetic or sympathetic nervous system (the network of nerves that helps the body mobilize the “fight or flight” response), with the root ganglia, an area of the brain where all sensory neurons originate. It is responsible for firing and sending signals to the rest of the nervous system regarding the information it has received.
When the sensory nerve connection was silenced, the sympathetic nervous system began to convert white fat cells into brown fat that can burn calories through a process called thermogenesis and speed up the body’s fat-burning processes.
Your brain actually talks to your fat cells — and that might be the secret to lasting weight loss https://t.co/yqDGRV7k3A pic.twitter.com/XcXigNfBru
— New York Post (@nypost) September 1, 2022
Prior to the study, researchers believed that nerves in fats mostly belong to the sympathetic nervous system and switch to fat-burning pathways when the body is stressed or exercising.
Now, they speculate that two opposing nerve signals may work in tandem with the sympathetic nervous system to trigger fat-burning processes when the sensory neuron pathway turns these processes off.
The scientists explained that these results mean that there is no one-size-fits-all instruction, because the process is more accurate than that, as these two types of neurons act as a gas pedal and brake to burn fat.
In mammals, adipose tissue stores energy in the form of fat cells and that store is released when the body needs energy. The tissues also control hormones and signal molecules related to hunger and metabolism. Energy storage and signals are often mixed in diseases such as diabetes, fatty liver, atherosclerosis, and obesity.
According to Science Daily, researchers don’t yet know what messages sensory neurons relay to the brain from fat tissue, but they are sure that these messages are key to keeping fat healthy.