Credit score: Cell Metabolism (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2025.04.018
Semaglutide belongs to a gaggle of medicine referred to as GLP-1R agonists and has been proven to successfully cut back meals consumption and physique weight. The drug is already nicely established as a part of the remedy for weight problems and sort 2 diabetes, however may cause unwanted side effects similar to nausea and muscle loss.
In a brand new research, researchers on the Sahlgrenska Academy on the College of Gothenburg have proven that it’s attainable to tell apart the nerve cells within the mind that management the useful results—similar to diminished meals consumption and fats loss—from those who contribute to unwanted side effects. The research is printed within the journal Cell Metabolism.
Activated nerve cells
To analyze how semaglutide impacts the mind, the researchers labored with mice. They tracked which nerve cells had been activated by the drug and had been then in a position to stimulate these cells—with out administering the drug itself.
The outcome was that the mice ate much less and misplaced weight, simply as they did when handled with semaglutide. When these nerve cells had been killed, the drug’s impact on urge for food and fats loss as an alternative decreased considerably. Nevertheless, unwanted side effects similar to nausea and muscle loss remained.
“This means that these nerve cells management the useful results of semaglutide. We’ve got due to this fact recognized a particular group of nerve cells that’s needed for the consequences that semaglutide has on weight and urge for food, however which doesn’t seem to contribute to any important extent to unwanted side effects similar to nausea.
“If we can target the treatment there, we may be able to maintain the positive effects while reducing side effects,” says Júlia Teixidor-Deulofeu, first writer of the research and Ph.D. scholar at Sahlgrenska Academy on the College of Gothenburg.
The impact within the mind
The recognized nerve cells are positioned in an space of the mind referred to as the dorsal vagal advanced. For the researchers, the outcome just isn’t solely an early step towards doubtlessly improved remedy, it additionally supplies new information about how semaglutide works within the mind. The research additionally supplies deeper perception into how the mind stem regulates our power steadiness.
“Semaglutide and different GLP-1R agonists are at present being prescribed to increasingly folks and are additionally being investigated for different potential indications similar to substance use issues and neurodegenerative ailments.
“It is important to understand how these drugs actually work. The better we understand this, the greater the opportunity we have to improve them,” says Linda Engström Ruud, researcher and supervisor to Ph.D. college students Teixidor-Deulofeu and Sebastian Blid Sköldheden, who each labored on the undertaking.
Extra data:
Júlia Teixidor-Deulofeu et al, Semaglutide results on power steadiness are mediated by Adcyap1+ neurons within the dorsal vagal advanced, Cell Metabolism (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2025.04.018
Offered by
College of Gothenburg
Quotation:
Weight reduction linked to nerve cells within the mind (2025, Could 23)
retrieved 24 Could 2025
from https://medicalxpress.com/information/2025-05-weight-loss-linked-nerve-cells.html
This doc is topic to copyright. Other than any truthful dealing for the aim of personal research or analysis, no
half could also be reproduced with out the written permission. The content material is offered for data functions solely.
