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So far, the question whether obesity could be a result of ciliopathy may have not left our minds, while another query seems to have comfortably made its way into the health terrain. As per this new revelation by experts from the University of Washington, obesity supposedly influences the hypothalamic activity in the brain.

In this research, rats which were exposed to high-fat diet (HFD) apparently manifested hypothalamic inflammatory signaling in a span of 1 to 3 days before significant weight gain. Also, biomarkers such as sensitive gliosis and others related to neuron injury seemed to be incident in the hypothalamic region of the mice during the initial week of HFD consumption.

Though the aforesaid reactions appeared to be restrictive at a primary stage, prolonged exposure to HFD supposedly reverted back the inflammation and gliosis to the hypothalamus of the brain. In a subsequent trial, when obese individuals underwent a MRI scan, growing proportions of gliosis were observed in the hypothalamus.

The latter is considered to be vital for body weight control. This finding essentially revealed that in human as well as in mice specimens, obesity appeared to be linked to neuronal injury in the portion of the brain regulating body weight.

Though it cannot be affirmed whether neuronal injury is a marker for the obese state or a consequence of weight gain, it still implied that brain weight control is linked to obesity. Further trials will clue in whether a barrier to the process of energy homeostasis in the brain leads to obesity.

The research is published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.