Unità Operativa Day-Hospital Area Medica, Ospedale di Manerbio, Azienda Ospedaliera di Desenzano del Garda, Brescia I-25025, Italy.
Clin Nutr. 2010 Apr;29(2):227-34. doi: 10.1016/j.clnu.2008.10.016. Epub 2009 Nov 27.
Eating disorders, obesity and cachexia endanger the lives of millions of people worldwide. Fortunately, in last decade, there has been a rapid and substantial progress toward uncovering the molecular and neural mechanisms by which energy imbalance develops. In 1999, ghrelin was identified as the first orexigenic gut-derived peptide. It stimulates appetite and controls the gastric motility and the acid secretion through the activation of the growth hormone secretagogue-receptor. After the discovery of ghrelin, other forms of ghrelin-related proteins were isolated from the rat stomach. The unmodified des-n-octanoyl form (des-acyl ghrelin) and the recent obestatin act through distinct receptors and contrarily to acyl ghrelin, show an anorexigenic activity. The finding that these three peptide hormones derive from the same precursor exert opposing physiological actions, highlights the importance of post-translational regulatory mechanisms. Further investigations are required to highlight the complexity of ghrelin physiology in order to better understand the mechanisms regulating the energy balance and provide a successful treatment of eating disorders, obesity and cachexia.
饮食失调、肥胖和恶病质危及着全世界数百万人的生命。幸运的是，在过去的十年中，人们在揭示能量失衡发展的分子和神经机制方面取得了迅速而实质性的进展。1999 年，ghrelin 被确定为第一种致食欲肽的肠源肽。它通过激活生长激素促分泌素受体刺激食欲，并控制胃动力和胃酸分泌。ghrelin 被发现后，从大鼠胃中分离出其他形式的 ghrelin 相关蛋白。未修饰的去-N-辛酰基形式（des-acyl ghrelin）和最近的 obestatin 通过不同的受体起作用，与酰化 ghrelin 相反，具有厌食作用。这三种肽激素来源于同一前体并发挥相反的生理作用这一发现，凸显了翻译后调节机制的重要性。需要进一步的研究来强调 ghrelin 生理学的复杂性，以便更好地理解调节能量平衡的机制，并为饮食失调、肥胖和恶病质提供成功的治疗方法。
