Genetic regulation of appetite and fatness: Current knowledge and future prospectives

The ability to assure a correct regulation of energy balance is a major determinant of species survival and brain has been proposed as the central controller of energy intake, expenditure and storage. Rapid advances in understanding the genetic control of appetite and fatness regulation have been recently performed. Several single gene defects in experimental animals with genetic obesity and associated feeding disorders have been shown within the past 4 years providing an important frame-work for understanding molecular basis of obesity in humans. Leptin, a protein secreted by adipocytes, able to play a role in the regulation of body fat, has been intensively investigated both at the biochemical and at the genetical level. Despite these efforts there are few evidences suggesting a major role of this protein in influencing body weight. A number of other proteins and relative genes, potentially involved in the genetic control of energy balance, are currently under investigation. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.