Revolutionary Drug Stops Weight Gain Despite High-Sugar, High-Fat Diet

Researchers have developed a small molecule drug that prevents weight gain and harmful liver changes in mice fed a lifelong Western diet high in sugar and fat.

“When we give mice this drug for a short time, they start to lose weight and they all lose weight,” said Dr. Madesh Muniswami, MD, professor of medicine at the Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long School of Medicine at the University of Texas School of Medicine. in San Antonio.

The findings of researchers from the University of Texas, as well as Pennsylvania and Cornell Universities are published in the journal Cell Reports.

The research team discovered the drug by studying how magnesium affects metabolism, that is, the production and consumption of energy in cells. This energy, called ATP, powers the body’s processes.

Magnesium plays an important role in maintaining health, including the regulation of blood sugar and blood pressure, as well as bone formation. But researchers have found that too much magnesium slows down energy production in the mitochondria, which are the powerhouses for cells, where they receive nutrients and produce energy that the rest of the cell can use.

“He hits the brakes, he slows down,” said co-author Travis R. Madaris, a postdoctoral fellow in Muniswami’s lab at the University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio.

Deletion of MRS2, a gene that promotes magnesium transport into the mitochondria, resulted in more efficient sugar and fat metabolism in power plants. The result: lean, healthy mice.

The liver and adipose tissue of the rodents showed no signs of fatty liver disease, a complication associated with poor nutrition, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.

The drug, which the researchers called CPACC, achieves similar results by limiting the amount of magnesium transported to power plants.

And in the experiments again the result: thin, healthy mice. At the same time, the University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio applied for a patent for the drug.

The mice served as a model system for long-term nutritional stress induced by a Western diet high in calories, sugar and fat. The common results of this stress are obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular complications.

“A decrease in mitochondrial magnesium attenuated the harmful effects of long-term nutritional stress,” said co-author Manigandan Venkatesan, a postdoctoral fellow in Muniswami’s lab.

Muniswami explained, “These results are the result of several years of work. A drug that can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease such as heart attack and stroke, as well as reduce the incidence of liver cancer that can follow fatty liver disease, would have a significant impact.” We will continue to develop it.”

Source: Medical Express