A research group led by Assistant Professor Shuko Shimokawa of the Graduate School of Medicine, Gunma University and Dr. Hisaeda of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases found that pre-fat mice fed a high-fat diet gained weight when infected with parasites. I found that it could be suppressed.
It has been reported that parasites parasitizing the intestinal tract have the ability to suppress various autoimmune diseases and allergies by changing various immune responses.Obesity is known as one of the chronic inflammations and has been increasing all over the world in recent years. The story of "thinning with parasites" has existed for a long time, but in reality, there are many unclear points.
Therefore, the research group investigated the effects of feeding mice with a high-fat diet for one month to fatten them, then infecting them with parasites and affecting their body weight.As a result, it was found that the parasite-infected mice showed suppression of body weight gain, decreased fat mass, and decreased triglyceride and free fatty acid levels in the blood, even though the dietary intake was the same.In addition, the group has conducted various studies to show that parasites that parasitize the intestinal tract change the intestinal flora of mice and increase the number of special intestinal bacteria that secrete the neurotransmitter norepinephrine. As a result, we succeeded in elucidating a series of processes in which the sympathetic nerve becomes dominant, the expression of UCP1 that causes fat cells to work for heat production is increased, and the weight gain is suppressed.
This result proves the mechanism by which parasites suppress weight gain for the first time in the world, and is expected to contribute to the establishment of new treatments for obesity in the future.
