In Vivo Study Finds Alpha2/Delta-1 Is A Biological Underpinning Of Obesity
Wednesday, January 8, 2014 - 21:10
in Health & Medicine
An in vivo study reveals how a protein in the brain, alpha2/delta-1, helps regulate food intake and body weight and may help explain why medications that are prescribed for epilepsy and other conditions that interfere with this protein, such as gabapentin and pregabalin, can cause weight gain. The alpha2/delta-1 protein has not been linked previously to obesity but the team led by Maribel Rios, Ph.D., associate professor in the department of neuroscience at Tufts University School of Medicine, found that alpha2/delta-1 facilitates the function of another protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). read more