- A new study used a “Trojan horse” GLP-1 drug to smuggle neuroplasticity molecules into the brains of mice, which doubled weight loss.
- Researchers say this experimental drug increased neuroplasticity in the brain to facilitate weight loss.
- The findings suggest that GLP-1 drugs could leak through the blood-brain barrier as they carry these plasticity-promoting molecules.
A new study in mice suggests it is possible to double the weight loss associated with GLP-1 medications by piggybacking certain neuroplasticity-promoting molecules alongside the hormone.
This is the conclusion of researchers with the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research at the University of Copenhagen. The findings were recently published in
GLP-1 hormones can leak through the permeable areas of the blood-brain barrier, so they can serve as “Trojan horses” that sneak the plasticity-promoting molecules into the brain, researchers say.
The findings assume that increasing brain plasticity — or its ability to change — may allow the brain to more readily adapt to weight loss. The molecules that promote plasticity in the study are the NMDA receptor agonist MK-801, which affects neuroplasticity in the hypothalamus and the brain stem.
If this mouse study’s findings are replicated in humans, these experimental molecules could super-charge already highly effective GLP-1 drugs for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic.
In addition to potentially increasing the weight-loss effects of GLP-1 drugs, combining them with the plasticity molecules may allow physicians to prescribe lower doses, thus avoiding the nausea that some experience with the current medications.
“We already know that GLP-1-based drugs can lead to weight loss. The molecule that we have attached to GLP-1 affects the so-called glutamatergic neurotransmitter system, and in fact, other studies with human participants suggest that this family of compounds has…
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