{"id":11244,"date":"2026-01-08T14:40:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/?p=11244"},"modified":"2026-01-08T14:40:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T10:40:33","slug":"gene-therapy-that-suppresses-the-urge-for-hedonic-eating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/gene-therapy-that-suppresses-the-urge-for-hedonic-eating\/","title":{"rendered":"Gene therapy that suppresses the urge for hedonic eating"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"3\"><span class=\"\">In the modern world,<\/span><span class=\"\"> one of the primary drivers of obesity is the easy accessibility of high-calorie,<\/span><span class=\"\"> palatable food.<\/span><span class=\"\"> People often consume food not out of hunger,<\/span><span class=\"\"> but for the purpose of seeking pleasure.<\/span><span class=\"\"> This process is known as <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"3\" data-index-in-node=\"229\">hedonic eating<\/b><span class=\"\">,<\/span><span class=\"\"> and it represents a major factor in the development of obesity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\"><span class=\"\">A new study published in the journal <\/span><i class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"4\" data-index-in-node=\"37\">Nature Communications<\/i><span class=\"\">,<\/span><span class=\"\"> conducted by researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences,<\/span><span class=\"\"> offers a new way to address this problem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\"><span class=\"\">The researchers discovered that a specific part of the brain,<\/span><span class=\"\"> the <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"5\" data-index-in-node=\"66\">lateral septum (LS)<\/b><span class=\"\">,<\/span><span class=\"\"> acts as a &#8220;brake&#8221; in the food regulation network.<\/span><span class=\"\"> Its activation suppresses the urge for hedonic eating,<\/span><span class=\"\"> representing a potential new target for the prevention and treatment of obesity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\"><span class=\"\">Experiments conducted on mice showed that prolonged consumption of high-fat food leads to obesity and,<\/span><span class=\"\"> simultaneously,<\/span><span class=\"\"> significantly diminishes the function of neurons in the lateral septum.<\/span><span class=\"\"> The scientists noted a decrease in the activity of two important genes:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"7\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7,0,0\"><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"7,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Hcn1<\/b><span class=\"\">,<\/span><span class=\"\"> which regulates neuronal excitability.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7,1,0\"><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"7,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"0\">Gad2<\/b><span class=\"\">,<\/span><span class=\"\"> which is responsible for the synthesis of the neurotransmitter <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"7,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"69\">GABA<\/b><span class=\"\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8\"><span class=\"\">When these genes are &#8220;weakened&#8221; by the influence of fatty foods,<\/span><span class=\"\"> the brain&#8217;s braking system malfunctions,<\/span><span class=\"\"> and the body loses the ability to stop overeating.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"9\"><span class=\"\">As part of the study,<\/span><span class=\"\"> scientists were able to restore the function of these genes.<\/span><span class=\"\"> The results were impressive:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul data-path-to-node=\"10\">\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10,0,0\"><span class=\"\">The restoration of the <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"10,0,0\" data-index-in-node=\"23\">Hcn1<\/b><span class=\"\"> gene effectively suppressed the tendency toward overeating in mice.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"10,1,0\"><span class=\"\">Stimulation of the <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"10,1,0\" data-index-in-node=\"19\">Gad2<\/b><span class=\"\"> gene strengthened inhibitory signals in the brain,<\/span><span class=\"\"> preventing the animals from overeating and developing obesity.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"11\"><span class=\"\">This discovery allows scientists to develop more precise medical methods in the future to help people overcome food addiction and obesity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"11\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-025-68010-x\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nature<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the modern world, one of the primary drivers of obesity is the easy accessibility of high-calorie, palatable food. People often consume food not out of hunger, but for the purpose of seeking pleasure. This process is known as hedonic eating, and it represents a major factor in the development of obesity. A new study [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11243,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1594,1587,1657],"tags":[2089,3761,2082],"class_list":["post-11244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-research","category-science","tag-gene-therapy","tag-hedonic-eating","tag-genuri-therapia"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11244"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11247,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11244\/revisions\/11247"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}