Researchers from the ibs.GRANADA have discovered a new mechanism of melatonin to combat obesity
A team of researchers from the ibs.GRANADA, the Hospital La Paz-Carlos III in Madrid and the Scientific Center of Health of the University of Texas (United States) have discovered a new molecular mechanism for the anti-obesity effects of chronic melatonin administration , a natural hormone that the body itself secretes during the dark of night, mainly by a gland called the pineal gland.
To carry out this research, which is published in the Journal of Pineal Research, melatonin was administered chronically recurrently to a group of obese diabetic rats.
"The results have been surprising, because the animals that were treated with melatonin saw how not only did the brown adipose tissue mass increase, but also the thermogenic activity of their body improved and, in parallel, the dangerous white adipose tissue mass decreased, the central or visceral”, explains the main author of the work, Professor of Pharmacology Ahmad Agil Abdalla, member of the Center for Biomedical Research (CIBM) of the UGR, of the ibs Biomedical Research Institute. Granada and the Institute of Neurosciences of the UGR.
Obesity has a tremendous impact on the health of the population, and is currently estimated to be responsible for up to 3 million deaths a year. The countries with the highest rates of obesity, over 30%, are the United States, the Persian Gulf countries, with a prevalence of between 31% and 35%. In Spain, there is a gradual and constant increase in rates, already reaching 27%.
In this article, researchers have shown that melatonin is closely linked with the loss of body weight gain, since at the tissue level, it increases the amount of brown fat; and at the organ level, it increases mitochondrial mass and functionality among others.
The weight loss protein
"Among our findings, we must highlight the increase in mitochondrial molecular thermogenic capacity, by increasing the expression of the levels of the UCP1-mitochondrial protein (thermogenin), which is responsible for burning calories and losing weight," says Agil. .
Previous studies by several international groups (including the ibs.GRANADA research group) have already shown that melatonin has powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-obesogenic effects. Regarding the anti-obesity effect, we can affirm that it is carried out by 2 thermogenic mechanisms on two targets or tissues; Because melatonin has the ability to convert subcutaneous white fat into beige fat, and to increase both the amount and the thermogenic activity of brown fat.
“We have shown that melatonin has the function of regulating obesity in rodents, in animals, but yes, without affecting food intake and physical activity. Hence, we think that it could be one more tool to fight obesity, in addition to reducing energy consumption through diet and forcing energy expenditure, mainly by doing more physical activity, even in cold room temperatures, to increase energy expenditure. caloric”, says the UGR professor and ibs.GRANADA researcher.
The research work led by Ahmad Agil, professor in the Pharmacology department and member of the Biomedical Research Center (CIBM) of the UGR, of the Institute for Biosanitary Research ibs. Granada and the Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Granada, and in collaboration with Gumersindo Fernández Vázquez, endocrinology and nutrition specialist in the Endocrinology and Nutrition service of the Hospital La Paz-Carlos III in Madrid, and with Russel Reiter of the Department of Cellular and Structural Biology, University of Texas Health Science Center. San Antonio, USA, has been developed within a Project (SAF 2013-45752-R) granted by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) directed by Professor Ahmad Agil.
At present, the UGR research group that has developed this work is interested in collaborating with companies that wish to help commercialize a patent, and is conducting further trials with another molecule, melatonin agonist.
Bibliographic reference:
Melatonin increases brown adipose tissue mass and function in Zücker diabetic fatty rats: implications for obesity control. Fernández Vázquez G, Reiter RJ, Agil A. J Pineal Res. 2018 Feb 6. doi: 10.1111 / jpi.12472