近期，英国研究人员表示，他们发现能够抑制食欲的自然成份，如果成功发展成为药品，将可以让人只有在饥饿时才吃东西，且可以免除一般减肥药物的副作用。
曼彻斯特大学的专家说，他们希望能让人不再只为了享受而进食，而且发展出来的药物，可能也可以用来治疗酒瘾和毒瘾。
科学家发现的这种成份称为hemopressin，在人体自然存在，会影响享受零食或吸烟时趋于活跃的脑部酬偿中枢。研究显示，hemopressin能阻隔脑部的这个区块，减少吃东西的满足感。
最新的研究刊登在《神经科学期刊》，报告的作者之一托德认为，人体自然形成的hemopressin可以抑制食欲而不致于有副作用。
实验显示，摄取hemopressin的老鼠食量减少，托德说：“我们现在计划进一步研究。我们的发现显示安全性没有问题，但这不能立刻套用在人类身上。”这项发现让科学家进一步了解大脑如何控制食欲，也为找出影响大脑这个功能和研发抗肥胖药物开启了新的渠道。
推荐原文出处：
The Journal of Neuroscience, doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5455-09.2010
The Peptide Hemopressin Acts through CB1 Cannabinoid Receptors to Reduce Food Intake in Rats and Mice
Garron T. Dodd,1 Giacomo Mancini,2 Beat Lutz,2 and Simon M. Luckman1
1Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, United Kingdom, and 2Institute of Physiological Chemistry, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Duesbergweg 6, D-55099 Mainz, Germany
Hemopressin is a short, nine amino acid peptide (H-Pro-Val-Asn-Phe-Lys-Leu-Leu-Ser-His-OH) isolated from rat brain that behaves as an inverse agonist at the cannabinoid receptor CB1, and is shown here to inhibit agonist-induced receptor internalization in a heterologous cell model. Since this peptide occurs naturally in the rodent brain, we determined its effect on appetite, an established central target of cannabinoid signaling. Hemopressin dose-dependently decreases night-time food intake in normal male rats and mice, as well as in obese ob/ob male mice, when administered centrally or systemically, without causing any obvious adverse side effects. The normal, behavioral satiety sequence is maintained in male mice fasted overnight, though refeeding is attenuated. The anorectic effect is absent in CB1 receptor null mutant male mice, and hemopressin can block CB1 agonist-induced hyperphagia in male rats, providing strong evidence for antagonism of the CB1 receptor in vivo. We speculate that hemopressin may act as an endogenous functional antagonist at CB1 receptors and modulate the activity of appetite pathways in the brain.
