title: Gut-Brain Endocrine Axes in Weight Regulation and Obesity Pharmacotherapy.
abstract: In recent years, the obesity epidemic has developed into a major health crisis both in the United States as well as throughout the developed world. With current treatments limited to expensive, high-risk surgery and minimally efficacious pharmacotherapy, new therapeutic options are urgently needed to combat this alarming trend. This review focuses on the endogenous gut-brain signaling axes that regulate appetite under physiological conditions, and discusses their clinical relevance by summarizing the clinical and preclinical studies that have investigated manipulation of these pathways to treat obesity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Thomas Jefferson University, 1020 Locust Street, JAH 368, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA. dante.merlino@jefferson.edu.
authors.forename: Dante J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Merlino
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Thomas Jefferson University, 1020 Locust Street, JAH 368, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA. erik.blomain@jefferson.edu.
authors.forename: Erik S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Blomain
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Thomas Jefferson University, 1020 Locust Street, JAH 368, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA. amanda.aing@jefferson.edu.
authors.forename: Amanda S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Aing
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Thomas Jefferson University, 1020 Locust Street, JAH 368, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA. scott.waldman@jefferson.edu.
authors.forename: Scott A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Waldman
keywords: gut-brain endocrine axis; hypothalamus; obesity; pharmacotherapy; satiety