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…Leptin, the satiety or appetite-suppressant hormone, is secreted by the adipose tissue at levels proportional to the body's fat reserves and regulates appetite by controlling the feeling of fullness. It is transported to the brain by tanycytes—cells which it enters by attaching to the LepR receptors. Tanycytes are therefore leptin's gateway to the brain, helping it to cross the blood-brain barrier and deliver satiety information to the neurons. Previous research has revealed that such transport is impaired in subjects who are obese or overweight. This goes some way to explaining their dysfunctional appetite regulation given that it is more difficult...

Researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have made a discovery in neuroscience that could offer a long-lasting solution to eating disorders such as obesity. It was previously thought that the nerve cells in the brain associated with appetite regulation were generated entirely during an embryo's development in the womb and therefore their numbers were fixed for life. But research published today in the Journal of Neuroscience has identified a population of stem cells capable of generating new appetite-regulating neurons in the brains of young and adult rodents. Obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally. More than 1.4 billion adults...