DIET, body weight, and metabolism are intricately related, and studying their relationship is not an easy task. People’s dietary habits include a wide variety of foods, many of which are shared across different types of diets. This complexity makes it difficult to prove cause and effect. “What should I eat? What should I not eat?” Thoughts Jonathan Longa biochemist at Stanford University. To address this challenge, Dr. Long focuses on isolating single, chemically defined components of the diet to better understand their effects on the body.
Taurine is an amino acid commonly found in meat, shellfish, and energy drinks, and is regularly included in many meals. Humans naturally produce taurine, but dietary taurine supports the immune system and improves cardiovascular health. It is often used as a supplement for weight loss and improving athletic performance. Given that taurine is involved in a variety of physiological functions, researchers are interested in understanding how taurine is metabolized in the body as it is converted into various taurine-containing molecules. I have been working hard. This prompted Dr. Long to explore the metabolic pathway, focusing on the understudied taurine metabolite. N-acetyl taurine.1
Jonathan Long is interested in mammalian metabolism and is working on research on energy balance and obesity from a more chemical perspective.
Jonathan Long
N-Acetyltaurine is formed when taurine combines with acetate during taurine breakdown and can fluctuate depending on diet and exercise. However, details of its degradation process and potential functions remain unclear. The researchers were particularly interested in how this molecule relates to issues such as energy balance and obesity. In investigating this gap, researchers identified the enzymes involved in the breakdown. N-acetyl taurine, and linked this pathway to weight regulation. their findingswas published in naturemice lacking this enzyme have high levels of N-Consumption of acetyl taurine resisted diet-induced obesity when fed a high-fat diet.2 This study suggests that the taurine metabolic pathway may help regulate body weight and food intake, highlighting its potential as a target for the development of new weight loss drugs similar to Ozempic.
Long’s interest in metabolism stems from its role in how the body processes food and converts it into energy, a process that affects health, aging, and weight. While researching metabolites, he came across taurine. Taurine is a surprisingly abundant but understudied compound found in foods such as shellfish, meat, and energy drinks. He was intrigued by the lack of research on taurine.
he said: [like taurine] Although it is extremely abundant and prevalent in the foods we eat, there is actually little understanding of how it affects our bodies. ” To better understand the relationship between diet and its potential effects on body weight, he approached the problem from a chemical perspective.
To do this, the researchers used an old-fashioned biochemical approach to find enzymes involved in cell regulation. N-Acetyl taurine. “We didn’t know where it was going to be,” Long explained. They crushed and purified enzyme products from various mouse organs, N– Acetyl taurine breakdown: acetate and taurine. The researchers then used chromatography to separate the enzyme products and searched for spikes in hydrolytic activity. This helped us identify three enzyme candidates. Among these candidates, researchers believe that an orphan enzyme called phosphotriesterase-related (PTER) N-Acetyl taurine hydrolysis.
Previous large-scale genetic research suggested that peter Genes were associated with people’s weight, but little was known about the enzymes themselves.3 This led Long to understand the relationship between the two.
To investigate the physiological relevance of PTER, researchers Ptah Knockout (KO) mouse model. Mice without PTER developed disease across all tissues. N– Acetyl taurine levels were “through the roof” compared to wild-type animals, Long described. I have long wondered how this feature affects body weight regulation in mice fed a high-fat diet.
Humans receive varying amounts of taurine in their diets, but standard mouse chow is usually deficient in taurine. Because taurine is a component of PTER activity, the researchers added taurine to drinking water. Ptah Feed KO mice and wild-type mice a high-fat diet. After 8 weeks, Ptah KO mice ate less and resisted diet-induced obesity. These mice also showed improved glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity compared to wild-type mice, likely due to this thinness. but, Ptah KO mice fed a standard diet showed no changes in body weight or food intake regardless of taurine supplementation. These findings support the interaction between genes and environment, Long said. Ptah The gene interacts with dietary taurine, and a relationship with body weight becomes apparent in the presence of environmental stimuli, such as a high-fat diet.
Qi Chena nutritional biochemist at the University of Minnesota. N-acetyl taurine He said he was pleased to see other groups demonstrating the importance of the compound, which was being studied a decade ago as a biomarker for ethanol metabolism. He commented that this research has an interesting angle that could be applied to pharmacological applications. “One of the fascinating things is that [that] Since this is an endogenous compound, you can consider it safe in a sense and not worry too much about side effects. ”
Professor Long echoed the idea of using these findings in weight control treatments, adding: Ptah This gene is associated with weight control, at least in mice, and could lead to the development of PTER inhibitors that target this pathway and complement weight-loss drugs like Ozempic. ”
