Hu Jia, Zhu Chao, Huang Mao
Center for New Drug Evaluation, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China.
Neurosci Bull. 2009 Jun;25(3):153-60. doi: 10.1007/s12264-009-0112-3.
Being a great threaten for human health, obesity has become a pandemic chronic disease. There have been several therapeutic treatments for this social health issue, including diet and exercise therapy, medication and surgery, among which the diet is still the most common way. However, none of these therapeutic measures available is ideal, making it necessary to find an effective medical treatment. The endocannabinoid system, which is well known for its contributions in certain mental processes such as relaxation, amelioration of pain and anxiety, and sedation initiation, has been recently reported to play an essential role in regulating appetite and metabolism to maintain energy balance, leading to the belief that endocannabinoid system is closely related to obesity. This new discovery deepens our understanding of obesity, and provides us with a new direction for clinical obesity treatment. Rimonabant is an antagonist for CB1, and has entered the market in some countries. However, although effective as an anti-obesity drug, rimonabant also causes obviously adverse side-effects, thus is being doubted and denied for medical usage.
肥胖作为对人类健康的重大威胁，已成为一种大流行的慢性病。针对这一社会健康问题已有多种治疗方法，包括饮食和运动疗法、药物治疗及手术治疗等，其中饮食仍是最常见的方式。然而，现有的这些治疗措施都不理想，因此有必要寻找一种有效的医学治疗方法。内源性大麻素系统因在某些心理过程（如放松、缓解疼痛和焦虑以及引发镇静）中发挥作用而闻名，最近有报道称其在调节食欲和新陈代谢以维持能量平衡方面起着至关重要的作用，这使得人们相信内源性大麻素系统与肥胖密切相关。这一新发现加深了我们对肥胖的理解，并为临床肥胖治疗提供了新的方向。利莫那班是一种CB1拮抗剂，已在一些国家上市。然而，尽管利莫那班作为一种抗肥胖药物有效，但它也会引起明显的副作用，因此其医疗用途受到质疑和否定。
