5.10.2008
Do Diet Drugs Affect Brain Development?
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Julie Steenhuysen of Reuters reports that a drug from a new class of weight-loss treatments disrupted wiring needed for brain development in young mice, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday, raising concerns about using such medications in children.
According to the piece, scientists at MIT studied the effects of a chemical that suppresses appetite by blocking cannabinoid receptors in the brain, the same brain mechanisms that make people hungry when they smoke marijuana. Evidence seems to indicate that brain development is stymied by the presence of the compound.
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Labels: MIT, plasticity, rinonabant
