Appetite for Destruction — In a recent issue of EMBO Reports, Dr. Rajat Singh in collaboration with Drs. Jeffrey Pessin and Gary Schwartz found that impaired autophagy with age in a specific type of neuron within the brain decreases the availability of a hormone that contributes to control of food intake and energy expenditure, leading to obesity. Autophagy is a process by which a cell degrades its own components, and these new findings present an interesting target for strategies to address obesity and metabolic syndrome in aged populations. Drs. Singh and colleagues further discussed the connection between autophagy and metabolic syndrome in a review article published in the journal Diabetes.Dr. Singh is assistant professor of medicine and of molecular pharmacology. Dr. Pessin is professor of medicine and of molecular pharmacology, director of Einstein’s Diabetes Research Center and holds the Judy R. and Alfred A. Rosenberg Professorial Chair in Diabetes Research. Dr. Schwartz is professor of medicine and of neuroscience.
Posted on: Thursday, April 05, 2012