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Query: UMLS:C0028754 (obesity)
 124,988 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In seventy-two patients affected by hyperphagic obesity and forty age-matched, normal weight volunteers we performed a psychological assessment, through various mental tests, and evaluated the beta-endorphin (B-Ep), ACTH and cortisol circulating levels, in basal condition and following an overnight short dexamethasone suppression test (DST). The hormones were measured by radioimmunoassay either directly in the serum (cortisol) and the plasma (ACTH), or after affinity gel column chromatography (B-Ep). In obese subjects B-Ep levels in basal conditions were four times greater than in normal weight controls and showed significantly less reduction after DST. ACTH and cortisol levels, in contrast, were in the normal range and were suppressed following dexamethasone as was also true in the control group. Psychological evaluation on M.M.P.I. (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory) revealed a trend toward hypochondria, depression, hysterias, psychoasthenia and schizophrenia. However, no significant correlation has been found between M.M.P.I. clinical scale scores and circulating levels of B-Ep and cortisol either in basal conditions or after DST. In conclusion, these data do not support the hypothesis that abnormalities of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis in hyperphagic obesity are related to affective disorders.
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PMID:Hyperendorphinemia in obesity is not related to the affective state. 196 3

This review focuses on neurotransmitter and neuropeptide actions on food ingestion, as well as on some of the mechanisms that may lead to the development and maintenance of obesity. In particular, the role of hypothalamic amines (catecholamines, serotonin) in appetite control is described. Thus, hypothalamic noradrenaline appears to stimulate food intake, while an enhanced brain serotonergic neurotransmission leads to a suppression of food ingestion, preferentially of carbohydrate intake. The involvement of brain serotonin neurons in appetite control is most attractive, since serotonin synthesis and release is readily affected by either precursor loading (i.e., 1-tryptophan) or pharmacological manipulation (e.g., drugs such as fenfluramine or fluoxetine). Recent data now suggest that at least a subgroup of obese patients is characterized by a disturbed serotonergic neurotransmission, thus exhibiting behaviors such as carbohydrate craving. Among neuropeptides involved in appetite control, the most attractive candidate appears to be corticotropin-releasing hormone which is released by neurons of the paraventricular nucleus and produces a stress-like activation of the organism, and has a strong appetite-suppressant effect.
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PMID:[Central nervous appetite regulation: mechanisms and significance for the development of obesity]. 197 Jun 99

The responses of plasma glucose, insulin, C-peptide and glucagon to an infusion of human beta-endorphin (0.5 mg/h) were studied in 10 formerly obese subjects who had lost 35 kg by dieting (body mass index less than 25) and compared with those of 10 normal-weight control (body mass index less than 25) and 10 obese (body mass index greater than 30) subjects. The fasting plasma concentrations of beta-endorphin were significantly higher in both the obese and the post-obese group than in the control group. In both obese and post-obese subjects, the infusion of beta-endorphin caused significant increases in peripheral plasma glucose, insulin, C-peptide and glucagon concentrations. In the control group, matched for age, sex and weight with the formerly obese group, there was no appreciable change in plasma insulin and C-peptide concentrations during the infusion of beta-endorphin, but the rise in plasma glucose was more sustained. Thus, 1. the increased plasma beta-endorphin concentrations found in human obesity are not corrected by normalization of body weight; and 2. formerly obese, normal-weight subjects behave as obese subjects in their metabolic and hormonal responses to beta-endorphin infusion. The alteration of the opioid system in human obesity may play some role in the predisposition to weight gain.
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PMID:Persistence of altered metabolic responses to beta-endorphin after normalization of body weight in human obesity. 200 75

This paper examines the treatment of obesity, using a feedback model of nutrient regulation. A feedback model contains afferent signals and a central controller that transduces afferent information into efferent signals that modulate the controlled system. Using this model and the receptor hypothesis for drug action, a variety of current and potential therapeutic approaches are discussed. Among the more promising approaches would be cholecystokinin agonists, small molecules that mimic ketoacids, agonists to corticotropin-releasing hormone, beta-3 agonists, antagonists to opioid peptides, antagonists to neuropeptide Y, glucocorticoid receptor antagonists, and growth hormone agonists. Since a number of mechanisms can influence body fat and nutrient partitioning, it is likely that optimal therapy will involve use of more than one pharmacologic agent.
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PMID:Treatment for obesity: a nutrient balance/nutrient partition approach. 201 19

Forty obese subjects with normal glucose tolerance test (NGTT) thirteen diabetic obese subjects and sixteen normal subjects were studied to evaluate the possible interactions between beta-endorphin (B-Ep) and glucose homeostasis. On the basis of baseline B-Ep levels, two subgroups were selected: one group with normal mean values of B-Ep (7.02 +/- 0.59 pmol/l); another group with elevated mean values of B-Ep (18.95 +/- 1.52 pmol/l). No differences between these subgroups were found as regards body mass index (BMI), insulin and glucagon levels. Normal B-Ep values were found in diabetic obese subjects. No significant correlation was found between B-Ep and BMI, insulin or glucagon. Considering that B-Ep is involved in eating behavior and on the basis of our results, we suggest that elevated B-Ep levels can be found only in those obese NGTT subjects whose obesity is probably related to an abnormal modulation of food intake, such as hyperphagia.
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PMID:[Plasma levels of beta-endorphin in obese subjects with normal glucose tolerance test and in diabetics]. 202 70

Seventeen normotensive, premenopausal women were treated with the 5-hydroxytryptamine-reuptake inhibitor dexfenfluramine 30 mg per day, for 4 days in a randomised double-blind, cross-over, placebo controlled trial. Energy intake was held constant during the study as the aim was to study the endocrine and metabolic effects of dexfenfluramine dissociated from its weight-lowering properties. Body weight, blood glucose, plasma insulin, cholesterol triglycerides and C-peptide after an overnight fast and during an oral load of 100 g glucose did not change after dexfenfluramine compared to placebo. Supine and standing systolic and diastolic blood pressures were significantly decreased, while heart rate remained unchanged. Plasma noradrenaline and plasma renin were markedly reduced by dexfenfluramine, and cortisol, beta-endorphin and thyroid hormones were not changed. Thus, dexfenfluramine has a significant hypotensive effect in normotensive, obese women after 4 days of treatment, independent of a negative energy balance. This was associated with decreased circulating plasma noradrenaline, indicating decreased sympathetic nerve activity. Dexfenfluramine may be a candidate drug for longer-term trials in the treatment of primary hypertension associated with obesity.
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PMID:Haemodynamic, metabolic and endocrine effects of short-term dexfenfluramine treatment in young, obese women. 206 May 60

Several experimental data have documented the ability of both opiates and opioid peptides to stimulate food intake. On the other hand, the plasma beta-endorphin levels found in obese patients are higher than those observed in normal-weight controls, which may have pathogenetic implications. We have investigated the responses of plasma glucose, insulin, C-peptide and glucagon to an infusion of human beta-endorphin in formerly obese subjects who had obtained by dieting the normalization of body weight and in lean controls. The data show that: a) the increased plasma beta-endorphin concentrations found in human obesity are not corrected by normalization of body weight; b) formerly obese subjects behave as obese subjects in their metabolic and hormonal responses to beta-endorphin.
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PMID:[Beta-endorphin and obesity. Possible pathogenetic implications]. 209 58

Circulating levels of cortisol and beta-endorphin were evaluated in basal condition and following dexamethasone administration in 20 healthy subjects and in 60 subjects suffering from hyperphagic obesity. Moreover, mental tests were administered to these subjects in order to evaluate the affective state. Our data showed that in obese patients B-Ep plasma levels were significantly higher than those of the control group, while cortisol plasma levels were similar in the two groups. Dexamethasone administration decreased cortisol plasma levels in normal and obese subjects, while did not modify B-Ep plasma levels in obese subjects. However, after dexamethasone administration 16.6% of the obese subjects did not show a complete decrease of cortisol level. This group of subjects obtained the highest scores for depression and hypochondria to MMPI.
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PMID:[Neuroendocrine changes and affective disorders in patients with hyperphagic obesity]. 214 22

It is now well-known that the plasmatic levels of beta-endorphin (B-Ep) in subjects suffering from hyperphagie obesity during childhood, adolescence and adult age, are higher than those of normal weight standard-wright. The causes are still unknown. In obese subjects, there is also a dissociation between plasmatic levels of B-Ep and of ACTH, in spite of the common origin of Proopiomelanocortin (POMC). On the basis of these observations we studied the plasmatic levels of B-Ep, ACTH and cortisol, basal and after DXM, before and after the reduction of body weight. With the aim of evaluating pharmacological interference, the obese subjects were treated with diet alone or diet associated with an anorectic and serotoninergic drug (fenfluramin). The results have shown that after slimming, obtained with diet alone or with the help of the serotoninergic drug, the hyperendorphinemia persists both in basal conditions and after the DXM test. The verification of such behaviour in some psychiatric diseases supports our assumption of a link between hyperendorphinemia, behaviour alterations, hyperphagy and obesity.
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PMID:[Plasma levels of beta-endorphin , ACTH and cortisol in obese patients subjected to several weight-loss treatments]. 216 28

Fetal ventromedial hypothalamic (VMH) tissue was transplanted into or around the third ventricle of adult Fischer 344 rats to determine if transplanted VMH tissue could reverse the hyperphagia and obesity produced by bilateral VMH electrolytic lesions. Host VMH-lesioned rats received stereotaxic implants of 13 to 19 postcoitus fetal VMH tissue from normal Fischer pups. The results show that: 1) Fetal VMH tissue survived in the brain (mainly in the third ventricle) of VMH-lesioned rats. The optimal survival and differentiation was at the gestational age of 13 days; 2) VMH-lesioned rats containing VMH grafts tended to consume less food than the controls, but this was not statistically significant. Neural grafts that could compensate the hyperphagia and obesity produced by the VMH lesions (in comparison to the controls) were those placed into the third ventricle; 3) Electrophysiological evidence demonstrated that VMH grafts contain glucoreceptor neurons in grafts not only located in the third ventricle, but also in the thalamus; 4) Immunohistochemical evidence showed the presence of serotonin, beta-endorphin and substance P immunoreactive fibers in the grafts. These results indicated that transplants of fetal VMH tissue in the brain of bilateral VMH-lesioned adult rats may have some functional effects (depending on the location of the graft).
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PMID:Fetal hypothalamic brain grafts to the ventromedial hypothalamic obese rats: an immunohistochemical, electrophysiological and behavioral study. 231 Sep 50


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