By Suzanne Rostler

NEW YORK, Nov 07 (Reuters Health) - A little-known fatty compound produced in the small intestine could hold the key to permanent weight loss, recent study findings suggest.

If further research in humans confirm the results of the current trial on rats, the compound, oleylethanolamide (OEA), could lead to the development of better treatments for eating disorders and obesity, researchers report in the November 8th issue of Nature.

"The effects of OEA are striking and profoundly different from those of traditional appetite suppressants," Dr. Daniele Piomelli, the study's lead author, told Reuters Health. "This implies that molecular mimics of OEA, or synthetic molecules that resemble OEA but are more potent and more resistant to degradation by the body, could be used in the treatment of obesity and overweight."

OEA is a type of fatty acid that is produced in the small intestine in response to food. While scientists have known that OEA was present in the body, its functions were until now unknown.

"We had been searching them unsuccessfully for years before we found by chance that OEA production is regulated by feeding," Piomelli, a researcher at the University of California, Irvine, told Reuters Health.

The study shows that when injected into the bodies of rats, OEA caused the rats to eat significantly less food and gain weight at a slower pace. At the same time, rats that had been deprived of food were found to have naturally lower levels of the compound, leading investigators to conclude that OEA is involved in appetite control and satiety, or feelings of fullness.

The compound, however, did not have the same effect on appetite when injected into the brains of rats, or when certain nerves located outside the brain were removed. This finding suggests that OEA acts on the brain indirectly and is important since some appetite-suppressing drugs work by activating certain brain pathways and are associated with serious side effects.

"Appetite-suppressant agents such as OEA and its mimics, which do not engage the brain, may not produce such side effects," Piomelli said.

Studies are now under way to investigate how OEA works on a cellular and molecular level, and to determine whether OEA has appetite-suppressing effects in humans, the researcher noted.

SOURCE: Nature 2001;414:209-212.

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