Research suggests that oxytocin is a potential new treatment for obesity

Oxytocin, a hormone, reduces communication between different areas of the brain involved in the cognitive, sensory and emotional processing of food signals that obese people demonstrate when they are examining high-calorie foods, according to a study presented Monday at the ENDO 2019, the annual report of the Endocrine Society. meeting in New Orleans, La.

The work could allow the synthetic nasal formulation of oxytocin to be used as a new treatment for obesity. Better known for its role in social bonding, childbirth and badfeeding, oxytocin is a natural hormone in the body that is also important for controlling food intake and weight. Previous research has shown that oxytocin nasal spray, which has not yet been approved in the United States, acts on the brain pathways involved in eating behavior and decreases food intake in men.

"Knowing how the drug exerts its effects is a crucial step in the establishment of oxytocin as a drug treatment for overconsumption and obesity," said Liya Kerem, MD, researcher Lead of the study, specialist in pediatric endocrinology at the MbadGeneral General Hospital for Children. and a researcher at Mbadachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mbadachusetts. "This study is exciting because it shows that oxytocin modulates the brain's pathways specifically during their reactions to highly appetizing and rewarding foods."

According to Kerem, the goal of this new study was to examine the network of reward brain regions affected by oxytocin. Building on their earlier findings demonstrating that oxytocin reduced the activation of the ventral tegmental region (VTA), a central region of the brain's reward system, researchers used imaging. functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a neuroimaging technique used in research to measure cerebral activity detect changes badociated with blood flow to investigate the impact of oxytocin on the functional connectivity between the ATV and the rest of the brain.

In this study, 10 healthy but overweight or obese young men randomly received different treatment during two visits to the research laboratory. At each visit, men self-administered a single dose of oxytocin nasal spray or dummy drug placebo after fasting. They did not know what treatment they had received. Oxytocin would have had no side effects in this study, which was funded by the Obesity Research Center at Harvard Nutrition, the Center for Obesity Research. nutrition and the National Institutes of Health.

One hour after the drug's administration, men underwent fMRI while they were viewing images of high-calorie foods, as well as images of low-calorie and low-calorie foods. 39, non-food items.

"Obese people, compared to lean people, have abnormally hyperactive brain reward areas when viewing high calorie food images, even when they are full, suggesting a explanation of the observed behavior of overeating and a potential target for treatment with drugs such as oxytocin. "said Kerem.

Compared to placebo, oxytocin weakened functional connectivity – the effective coordination between neural systems in response to a task – between ATV and the brain-motivated areas badociated with food when participants viewed images. of foods high in calories.