The UIC’s NeuroLipid research group, led by Dr. Núria Casals, has collaborated with a USC research group, led by Drs. Carlos Diéguez and Miguel López, in the publication of an article which demonstrates that ceramides (fatty acid derivatives) produced in the hypothalamus trigger hunger in response to the ghrelin hormone.

The brain is alerted of the need for food by the release of the ghrelin hormone from cells in an empty stomach; ghrelin production is known to increase before eating and decrease afterwards. Hypothalamic ceramides have now been identified as the “couriers” that convey the ghrelin hormone’s signal to the brain. Moreover, hypothalamic ceramide synthesis is regulated by the CPT1C protein, which may offer a therapeutic target in the development of new drugs to treat obesity. The study was conducted on mice and enabled the research group to demonstrate that blocking hypothalamic ceramide synthesis caused the subjects not to experience hunger, irrespective of how much ghrelin was released.

The article is particularly concerned with the link between type 2 diabetes and obesity. Different studies have already corroborated that the risk of developing diabetes rises in proportion to increased weight or body mass index (BMI).

The article, "Hypothalamic ceramide levels regulated by CPT1C mediate the orexigenic effect of ghrelin", was published in the July 2013 issue of Diabetes.