Bray George A
Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA.
Clin Dermatol. 2004 Jul-Aug;22(4):281-8. doi: 10.1016/j.clindermatol.2004.01.009.
Obesity results when the energy intake exceeds expenditure for a long period. The first law of thermodynamics, which describes this relationship, does not provide insight into the failures to couple energy intake and expenditure. Research over the past two decades has provided an unprecedented expansion of knowledge about the physiological and molecular mechanisms regulating body fat. Perhaps the greatest impact has resulted from the cloning of genes corresponding to the five mouse monogenic obesity syndromes and the subsequent characterization of the human counterparts to these syndromes. Extensive molecular and reverse genetic studies (mouse knockouts) have helped establish other critical pathways that regulate body fat and food intake, and also have either validated or refuted the importance of previously identified pathways.
当能量摄入长期超过消耗时，就会导致肥胖。描述这种关系的热力学第一定律，并未深入揭示能量摄入与消耗未能匹配的原因。过去二十年的研究极大地拓展了我们对调节身体脂肪的生理和分子机制的认识。或许最大的影响来自于与五种小鼠单基因肥胖综合征相对应的基因的克隆，以及随后对这些综合征人类对应情况的特征描述。广泛的分子和反向遗传学研究（小鼠基因敲除）有助于确立其他调节身体脂肪和食物摄入的关键途径，同时也验证或反驳了先前确定的途径的重要性。
