A new player in obesity (Tufts)

Fat mouse via MNT

It looks like scientists are still uncovering the biochemical causes of obesity. In January, a team of researchers at Sackler Faculty of Medicine in Tel Aviv published their novel discovery: yet another protein in the brain, called alpha2/delta-1, has proven to mediate weight. When levels of this protein are decreased, animals are less likely to feel sated after a meal and, therefore, will eat more.

So why is this important? Now that the protein has been identified, pharmaceutical companies can develop drugs that look like alpha2/delta-1 in order to trick the brain into thinking its levels are high. Because high alpha2/delta-1 means less eating, and that is a good thing in the obese.