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New brain chemical found that regulates hunger WASHINGTON (April 30, 1998 09:13 a.m. EDT http://www.nando.net) - U.S. researchers said Wednesday they had found a new brain chemical that affects feelings of fullness and food intake. They said their findings might eventually lead to yet another diet pill. Mike Kuhar and colleagues at the Yerkes Primate Research Center at Emory University in Atlanta found the brain chemical, a neurotransmitter, while doing studies on cocaine. Neurotransmitters carry messages between cells and several are known to play a role in appetite, including serotonin, which is also linked with mood. Writing in the journal Synapse, they said they had named the new neurotransmitter CART peptide, short for cocaine and amphetamine regulated transcript. "We tested the CART peptide to see if it could be an agent responsible for loss of appetite for two reasons," Kuhar said in a statement. "First, CART is associated with cocaine and cocaine reduces food intake. Also, CART peptides are found in regions of the brain that control food intake." Kuhar's team has only worked with rats so far, and rats often react differently from humans in this kind of research. But when they injected CART into the brains of normal rats, the rats ate up to 30 percent less. And when they blocked CART production by injecting antibodies against the chemical, the rats ate more. "This antibody data is what makes us think CART is responsible, at least partially, for making you feel sated -- whether it's after eating, or perhaps after cocaine use," said Phil Lambert, who also worked on the study. They also found that CART interacts with neuropeptide Y, another neurotransmitter that scientists believe plays a role in hunger, although they are not quite sure how. "This seems to be a part of the puzzle," Kuhar said. Lambert said it would not be the key to the problem of obesity. "Eating is too important an activity for survival to have just one pathway responsible," he said. Plus, he added: "Humans don't just eat when they're hungry." Prescription diet drugs now on the market affect neurotransmitters. For example Meridia, known generically as sibutramine, affects the neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine. Copyright 1998 Nando.net Copyright 1998 Reuters News Service janet paterson 51/10 - sinemet/selegiline/prozac almonte/ontario/canada - [log in to unmask]