Brain chemical regulates weight, appetite

By studying the victims of a rare genetic disease, NIH researchers have highlighted the role that brain-derived neurotrophic factor--a chemical made in the brain--has on promoting obesity. People with WAGR syndrome lack a gene for BDNF and also are known for huge appetites and obesity. That link could point researchers to a new approach to controlling obesity.

"This is a promising new lead in the search for biological pathways that contribute to obesity," said Duane Alexander, M.D., director of the NIH's Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. "This finding may eventually lead to the development of new drugs to regulate appetite in people who have not had success with other treatments."

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