Summary: Researchers have identified a molecule in the blood that is produced during exercise. The molecule, Lac-Phe, can effectively reduce food intake and obesity in mouse models.
Font: Baylor College of Medicine
Researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, Stanford School of Medicine, and collaborating institutions report today in the journal Nature They have identified a molecule in the blood that is produced during exercise and can effectively reduce food intake and obesity in mice.
The findings improve our understanding of the physiological processes underlying the interaction between exercise and hunger.
“Regular exercise has been shown to help with weight loss, regulate appetite, and improve metabolic profile, especially for overweight and obese people,” said co-corresponding author Dr. Yong Xu, professor of pediatrics, nutrition, and biology. molecular and cellular at Baylor.
“If we can understand the mechanism by which exercise triggers these benefits, then we will be closer to helping many people improve their health.”
“We wanted to understand how exercise works at the molecular level so we could capture some of its benefits,” said co-corresponding author Jonathan Long, MD, an assistant professor of pathology at Stanford Medicine and a Stanford ChEM-H (Chemistry, Engineering, and Medicine for Human Health).
“For example, elderly or frail people who can’t get enough exercise may one day benefit from taking a drug that can help slow osteoporosis, heart disease or other conditions.”
Xu, Long, and their colleagues performed extensive analyzes of compounds in the blood plasma of mice after intense treadmill running. The most significantly induced molecule was a modified amino acid called Lac-Phe. It is synthesized from lactate (a byproduct of strenuous exercise that is responsible for the burning sensation in muscles) and phenylalanine (an amino acid that is one of the building blocks of protein).
In mice with diet-induced obesity (fed a high-fat diet), a high dose of Lac-Phe suppressed food intake by approximately 50% compared to control mice over a 12-hour period without affecting your movement or energy expenditure. When administered to mice for 10 days, Lac-Phe reduced cumulative food intake and body weight (due to loss of body fat) and improved glucose tolerance.
The researchers also identified an enzyme called CNDP2 that is involved in the production of Lac-Phe and showed that mice lacking this enzyme did not lose as much weight with an exercise regimen as a control group with the same exercise plan.
Interestingly, the team also found robust elevations in plasma Lac-Phe levels after physical activity in racehorses and humans. Data from a human exercise cohort showed that sprint exercise induced the most dramatic increase in plasma Lac-Phe, followed by resistance training and then resistance training.
“This suggests that Lac-Phe is an ancient and conserved system that regulates feeding and is associated with physical activity in many animal species,” Long said.
“Our next steps include finding out more details about how Lac-Phe mediates its effects in the body, including the brain,” Xu said. “Our goal is to learn how to modulate this exercise pathway for therapeutic interventions.”
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Font: Baylor College of Medicine
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original research: Closed access.
“An exercise-inducible metabolite that suppresses eating and obesityby Jonathan Long et al. Nature
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Summary
An exercise-inducible metabolite that suppresses eating and obesity
Exercise confers protection against obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other cardiometabolic diseases. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms that mediate the metabolic benefits of physical activity remain unclear.
Here we show that exercise stimulates the production of north-lactoyl-phenylalanine (Lac-Phe), a blood-borne signaling metabolite that suppresses eating and obesity.
Biosynthesis of Lac-Phe from lactate and phenylalanine occurs at CNDP2+ cells, including macrophages, monocytes, and other immune and epithelial cells located in various organs. In diet-induced obese mice, drug-mediated increases in Lac-Phe reduce food intake without affecting movement or energy expenditure.
Chronic administration of Lac-Phe decreases adiposity and body weight and improves glucose homeostasis. In contrast, genetic ablation of Lac-Phe biosynthesis in mice increases food intake and obesity after exercise training.
Lastly, large activity-inducible increases in circulating Lac-Phe are also observed in humans and racehorses, establishing this metabolite as a molecular effector associated with physical activity across multiple activity modalities and mammalian species.
These data define a conserved, exercise-inducible metabolite that controls food intake and influences systemic energy balance.
