"They work by mimicking a hormone that reduces appetite and slows digestion. Yacawych and his colleagues wanted to know if they could tweak these drugs to suppress appetite without making people queasy. The team focused on two areas in the brain stem where GLP-1 drugs have a big effect. "The first is affectionately known as the brain stem's vomit center," Yacawych says. "It's naturally designed to detect any accidentally ingested toxin and coordinate the feeling of nausea and the vomit response.""
"The team found a way to direct GLP-1 to the area involved in feeling full, while keeping the drug out of the vomit center. When the researchers did this, the mice no longer felt sick. But they also didn't get thin probably because there are specific cells in the vomit center that do not induce vomiting but are critical to weight loss."
GLP-1 agonists mimic a hormone that reduces appetite and slows digestion and produce substantial weight loss but often cause severe nausea and vomiting that lead to treatment cessation. Two brainstem regions mediate GLP-1 effects: a vomit center that detects toxins and triggers nausea and vomiting, and a fullness-monitoring area that regulates intake. Directing GLP-1 signaling to the fullness area prevented sickness in mice but also eliminated weight loss, implying some vomit-center cells contribute to weight reduction. Combining low-dose GLP-1 with oxytocin enabled weight loss in rats without nausea, indicating potential combinatorial strategies.
Read at www.npr.org
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