Scientists are looking at using deep brain stimulation to solve the growing issue of obesity in the United States.
Dieticians, scientists and researchers have for years been trying to find an effective solution to the growing problem of obesity, especially in the United States. Obesity is one of the major causes of heart and cardiac diseases and is known to cause quite a large number of deaths in the country. Hence, scientists are now experimenting with a new method to curb and resolve this problem and the process is related to the brain.
In an experimental study, scientists used deep brain stimulation on a few obese mice. During this process, a device is inserted into the brain, which sends electric impulses to certain parts of the brain resulting in curbing of hunger pangs and obesity-related behaviour.
"Once replicated in human clinical trials, DBS could rapidly become a treatment for people with obesity due to the extensive groundwork already established in other disease areas," lead author Casey Halpern, a resident in the department of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, said in a statement.
In the past, obesity-related eating behavior has been linked to the deficit of a chemical called dopamine. Hence, using deep brain stimulation, scientists were able to activate the dopamine type-2 receptor in the nucleus accumbens of mice.
The mice in the study were given unlimited amounts of low-calorie food daily, but were treated to high-calorie food once a day. However, after undergoing the deep brain stimulation process, it was discovered that these mice didn't indulge in large amounts of high-calorie food anymore.
Researchers hope to extend this method out to humans soon but reveal that more studies need to be conducted before they can do so.
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