Medical researchers gain breakthrough on suppressing hunger hormone

by Rich Bowden - Sep 16 2008, 22:49

U.S. medical researchers have found a non-invasive method of suppressing 'ghrelin', or the 'hunger hormone' in pigs that leads to a significant reduction in appetite.

Photo: Cornfed. Credit: mahalie/flickr

Researchers from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore have announced a method that restricts the flow of blood through the blood vessel to the fundus (top of the stomach), which produces around 90 percent of the hormone. However, it is unable to achieve this task without a good supply of blood.In a university news release, researchers said the use of surgery was kept to the minimum.“With gastric artery chemical embolization, called GACE, there’s no major surgery,” says Aravind Arepally, M.D., clinical director of the Center for Bioengineering Innovation and Design and associate professor of radiology and surgery at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “In our study in pigs, this procedure produced an effect similar to bariatric surgery [the removal, reconstruction or bypass of part of the stomach or bowel] by suppressing ghrelin levels and subsequently lowering appetite.”The team said that while bariatric surgery was effective in suppressing appetite, the surgery carried with it substantial side effects and complications.“Obesity is the biggest biomedical problem in the country, and a minimally invasive alternative would make an enormous difference in choices and outcomes for obese people,” Arepally said.The study, published in the September 16 edition of Radiology, was carried out on 10 healthy growing pigs over a four-week period. Researchers chose pigs because of their anatomical and physiological similarities to humans.The team injected five of the pigs with a saline solution into the left gastric arteries and the other five with sodium morrhuate, a chemical that destroys the blood vessels, reports to the Johns Hopkins release.The results showed the hormone of those pigs injected with sodium morrhuate were suppressed by up to 60 percent.“Appetite is complicated because it involves both the mind and body,” outlined Arepally. “Ghrelin fluctuates throughout the day, responding to all kinds of emotional and physiological scenarios. But even if the brain says “produce more ghrelin,” GACE physically prevents the stomach from making the hunger hormone.”The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health.

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Medical researchers gain breakthrough on suppressing hunger hormone

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