A new research has revealed that hormone leptin does not only influences neurons to modulate behavior and body weight but it also acts on other types of brain cells to control appetite.
Tamas Horvath, senior author said that the scientific community believed up till now that leptin acts exclusively in neurons to modulate behavior and body weight but this study has now changed the paradigm.
He further explained that glial cells provide the main barrier between the peripheries and the brain and thus glial cells could be targeted for drugs that treat metabolic disorders, including obesity and diabetes.
Leptin is a naturally occurring hormone that is known for its hunger-blocking effect on the hypothalamus which is a region in the brain.
The study is published in the Nature Neuroscience.
