title: Homo obesus: a metabotrophin-deficient species. Pharmacology and nutrition insight.
abstract: In most countries the prevalence of obesity now exceeds 15%, the figure used by the World Health Organization to define the critical threshold for intervention in nutritional epidemics. Here we describe Homo obesus (man the obese) as a recent phenotypic expression of Homo sapiens. Specifically, we classified Homo obesus as a species deficient of metabotrophic factors (metabotrophins), including endogenous proteins, which play essential role in the maintenance of glucose, lipid, energy and vascular homeostasis, and also improve metabolism-related processes such as inflammation and wound healing. Here we propose that pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and xenohormetics targeting transcriptional, secretory and/or signaling pathways of metabotrophins, particularly adiponectin, nerve growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, interleukin-10, and sirtuins, might be new tools for therapy of Homo obesus. Brief comment is also given to (i) exogenous metabotrophic agents represented by various classes of drugs, and (ii) adiponutrigenomics of lifespan.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cell Biology, Medical University, Varna, Bulgaria. chaldakov@yahoo.com
authors.forename: G N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Chaldakov
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fiore
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Tonchev
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dimitrov
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pancheva
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rancic
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Aloe
mesh_terms: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000502:physiology; D031204:Caloric Restriction; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005947:Glucose / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D020932:Nerve Growth Factor / Q000502:physiology; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D009765:Obesity / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000378:metabolism; D000077185:Resveratrol; D013267:Stilbenes / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D013267:Stilbenes; D020932:Nerve Growth Factor; D005947:Glucose; D000077185:Resveratrol