Interestingly enough, recent research is now showing that asprosin’s presence also affects the hypothalamus – a portion of your brain that regulates weight and appetite.
The first scientific discovery of the hormone asprosin was in 2016. Since its discovery, Dr. Chopra and her colleagues have been administering the hormone to mice with symptoms of neonatal progeroid syndrome (NPS) – a rare disease that causes extreme leanness and the inability to accumulate fat.
The researcher’s goal was to witness asprosin’ effects on the mice’s brain chemistry, hunger levels and, subsequently, weight gain.
Astoundingly, Chopra and her team were able to restore a healthy appetite by simply giving the mice the administration of the hormone. According to Dr. Chopra:
“There are two types of neurons involved in appetite control. One type, the AgRP neurons, stimulates appetite while the other type, POMC neurons, suppresses it. Asprosin works on both types of neurons in an opposite manner; it activates appetite-stimulating AgRP neurons and it deactivates appetite-suppressing POMC neurons.”
According to Dr. Yong Xu (another author of the study), the asprosin did not seem to change the firing activities of other neurons that regulate appetite. Therefore, the team’s focus now is identifying the receptors for the hormone.
As the authors of the study said:
“[W]e found that obese humans and mice had pathologically elevated concentrations of circulating asprosin, and neutralization of asprosin in the blood […] reduced appetite and body weight in obese mice, in addition to improving their glycemic profile.”
“[The findings] give us a possible opportunity to treat obesity by regulating blood asprosin levels,” says Dr. Chopra.
“If humans with diabetes respond the same way to the asprosin antibody that diabetic mice do, this discovery could result in a new treatment for diabetes, which affects millions of people,” Dr. Chopra said.
These findings are extremely exciting, as they may become a treatment for helping those who struggle with weight gain and obesity. These findings also point to future hopeful relief for those who experience symptoms of NPS.
