Hormones Implicating Obesity

Come along and sing a song and join the jamboree! M-I-C-K-E-Y-M-O-U-S-E.

First and foremost, sorry for the lack of posting. I was thinking of backtracking and fooling Blogger into thinking that I actually posted on the days I've missed out this week (which was practically every day), so if you see a post on Wednesday and the like... well, I cheated!

Anyway, what makes mice fat in experimental studies? Let me count the (hormonal) ways.

You could have a lack of anorixegenic peptides (CCK, PYY, oxyntomodulin, glucagon like peptide 1, pancreatic polypeptide). In class we concentrated on PYY. This rises after we eat and tells the pituitary/hypothalamus to STOP EATING. But man, do I love food.

You could also have too much ghrelin. Ghrelin levels are highest when we're in the fasting state ( = when I'm starving for a brownie). Fun clinical correlate: Prader-Willi (chromosome 15 paternal deletion, to jog your memory) patients have high levels of ghrelin. Ghrelin is also hard for me to pronounce and write.