London - Katia Haddad
Scientists have discovered, recently,that the intestinal parasites, which tells the brain to stop eating and start exercising, are the gene, which can be found in worms that similar to those found in humans, it could help to break the cycle of overeating and lack of exercise because feeling of fullness, as well as the need to sleep after eating.
Experts claim that these findings have opened the ability to develop a drug that can help control obesity by reducing the appetite.
Danish and Australian researchers discovered that the gene encodes transcription factor called "ETS- 5", which controls the brain signals to the intestines, and used a worm, or certain types of them, because of the relative simplicity in its brain.
Worms have only 302 neurons and 8,000 points from synapses, or connections of nerve cells, which have been followed, while the human brain, on the contrary, has billions of nerve cells, and more than 160 thousand kilometers from biological wires and 100 trillion synapses .
The study author, Professor Roger Pocock, at Monash University in Melbourne, stressed that when intestines stored enough fat, the brain will receive a message to stop the move, and put the worm to sleep effectively, adding "When animals suffer from malnutrition, they seek to food through roaming in the environment,and when they get well fed they do not need to wander around, and when they are completely fed, they entering a sleep-like state.
Professor Pocock that the roundworm and humans share 80 per cent of genes, as well as nearly half of all known genes involved in human diseases, saying: "Because worms share many genes with humans are a great model for research and gain an understanding for better processes such as metabolism, as well as diseases in humans.