Amidst the battle against obesity pandemic prevailing across the world, scientists are optimistically placing all possible therapeutic strategies under the microscope. One such treatment is the blocking of appetite-stimulating endogenous signals, which can eventually control body weight.
Ghrelin, the only known orexigenic hormone is a gut peptide that triggers mealtime hunger. But, in a bid to curb growing obesity, care in using this process should be taken cautiously – as in a decrease in thymic expression of both the hormone as well as its receptor may cause thymic involution, leading to a dramatic decrease in T cell output. This may in turn, deteriorate a person’s immune functions markedly.
This thymus involution also occurs with aging. In the new study, ghrelin infusion into old mice has been mound to markedly increase its thymic mass and amazingly improve thymic architecture.
It can also increase the number of thymocyte and thymic epithelial cell.
Besides taking up this potential approach for treating obesity, this new finding thus, might provide a new approach to help bolster one’s immune function, especially the elderly and those who are immuno-compromised.
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