Washington, August 10 (ANI): An Indian-origin researcher has identified a protein that could come of great help to diabetics and the obese by helping them keep their appetite and blood sugar in check.
Suraj Unniappan, associate professor in York's Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Engineering at York University, is delving into the metabolic effects of a protein called nesfatin-1, abundantly present in the brain.
His studies found that rats administered with nesfatin-1 ate less, used more stored fat and became more active. In addition, the protein stimulated insulin secretion from the pancreatic beta cells of both rats and mice.
"[The rats] actually ate more frequently but in lesser amounts," says Unniappan, a member of York's neuroscience graduate diploma program, and a recipient of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) New Investigator Award. "In addition, they were more active and we found that their fatty acid oxidization was increased. In other words, the energy reserve being preferably used during nesfatin-1 treatment was fat.
"This suggests more fat loss, which could eventually result in body weight loss," he said.
Unniappan hopes that the discovery may eventually lead to new hormone-based treatments to suppress body weight and blood sugar.
The study was recently published in the Journal of Endocrinology. (ANI)
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