How cocaine-for-weight-loss addicts might save their nose (and health)
A less catchy title would have mentioned a possible new cure for obesity, the actual clinical motive of the international team who just published a study about a weight-loss spray in the Journal of Neuroscience.
And yet cocaine users sniffing the white powder to stay thin or go skinnier, whether they be models, movie or TV stars, businessmen or even politician â no need for names dropping, or maybe for a little SEO improvement⊠maybe later.
The miracle molecule able to provide one of our societiesâ Graal â weight-loss without effort â is a product of our own body. Please meet peptide YY (PYY), a small protein with two of the amino acid tyrosin (Y is the abbreviation for tyrosine in the amino acid code).
PYY is a gut hormone. It has nothing to do with instincts here but all with satiety and food intake regulation. After a meal, cells lining the gastrointestinal tract (L-endocrine cells) produce PYY depending on the calories amount youâve just ingested. Circulated in the blood from the gut to the hypothalamus, the regulation headquarters of the body (sleep, thirst, emotions and hunger obviously).
In the hypothalamus, PYY binds to the Neuropeptide Y receptor (Y2R) which results in an anorexigenic message, meaning you have less appetite. For more details about the chain of event involving Neuropeptide Y messenger RNA and pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) neurons, with a lot of electrical activity as always with nervous signals, enjoy this figure.
So PYY is a satiating hormone, sending the message âyouâre ok, youâve eaten enough, now itâs time to stopâ around 20 to 30 minutes after the first bite (the time for the food for its first digestion in the stomach then continue to the smaller intestine). Very well.
But why in a spray ? A little serendipity was at play here. The scientists actually found PYY in the saliva of mice. Not that they were looking for salivary PYY : they were actually testing a delivery of the hormone via gene therapy (using a vector to carry the PYY gene directly into its target cells in the brain).
PYY in a pill is not an option, because the fragile peptide would be destroyed in the stomach. The other way is infusions, to get the hormone where all hormones travel : blood. Almost all of the previous studies that helped build the actual knowledge of PYY anorexic effects involved infusions.
Unfortunately, injecting PYY directly into the blood leads to visceral vomiting. The most cynical would say this is another very efficient way to loose weight.Â
Fortunately enough, salivary PYY follows an alternative circuit compared to the systemic PYY (the one from the gut). A shortcut leading to the hypothalamus satiety centers via the oral cavity that also prevents visceral sickness. Bingo.
A spray of this mouthful hormone could be a powerful new weapon in the global armed race against obesity. No taste-messing and no bloating (like with pectin gums or other diet pills that make you full of air), PYY acts by regulating food ingestion, resetting hectic appetite balance to ânormalâ.
A lot more development is to be done until metabolism boosters, caffeine pills, taste buds inhibitors and other fat-laxatives can be forgotten.
Until then, just listen to your body and maybe spray a little empathetic spray of oxytocin (if youâre in the right mood with the right persons, no miracle there).
And for the most cynical if they are still there : Â âuntil a mouth cure, go on with the nose relief ...â.
