Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks attends The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles 23rd Annual Simply Shakespeare benefit reading of ''The Two Gentlemen of Verona'' in Santa Monica, California in this September 25, 2013, file photo. Reuters

Prevention of three life threatening factors like weight gain, obesity and diabetes could be really simple, it just needs blocking of a nuclear receptor in the brain, new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers reported.

This work appeared in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI).

The report stated that when the scientists blocked the effect of the nuclear receptor called PPAR gamma in a small number of brain cells in mice, the animals did eat less and turned out to be resistant to a high-fat diet.

"According to the report by Daily Science, lead author Sabrina Diano, professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at Yale School of Medicine, said, these animals ate fat and sugar, and did not gain weight, while their control littermates did. We showed that the PPAR gamma receptor in neurons that produce POMC could control responses to a high-fat diet without resulting in obesity."

POMC neurons are known to be located in the hypothalamus of brain and control food intake. The activation of POMC makes one feel full and curb appetite. PPAR gamma plays an important role in regulation of POMC activation.

In this study, genetically engineered transgenic mice were used. These mice didn’t have PPAR gamma receptor from POMC neurons. The researchers wanted to find out if their action could prevent the obesity associated with a high-fat, high-sugar diet.

They concluded that blocking of PPAR gamma in these hypothalamic cells caused an increased level of free radical formation in POMC neurons and they were more active.

The work is likely to have huge impact in diabetes. PPAR gamma is a potent target of thiazolidinedione (TZD), a known class of drugs which is widely used to treat type 2 diabetes. They do lower blood-glucose levels but patients tend to gain weight on these medications.

According to Diano, the weight gain could be because of the effect of TZD in the brain. So their next focus is to further investigate through targeting peripheral PPAR gamma receptors in order to treat type 2 diabetes by developing TZD compounds that can't penetrate the brain.