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How big were these implant capsules? The rodents might have been cronically uncomfortable and that may have been a factor in their loss of appetite. I know when
by ohiovr 9y ago
How big were these implant capsules? The rodents might have been cronically uncomfortable and that may have been a factor in their loss of appetite. I know when I feel sick I don't eat as much. Could they do this again with a larger animal with weights that could be applied without any potential discomfort? Or would putting huge weights on your knees while sitting make you less likely to binge eat?
- gwern 9y agoThe size of the implant can't be the issue because the implants (empty) were also implanted in the active controls, who maintained their weight/food intake. Any discomfort must have come from the additional weight, but of course, that ought to also be true of mice who are fat. The crosscheck with the less-boney mice, without any implants at all, also helps support that it is the change in weight itself and not an associated effect of the implanted spheres, which is the cause. > Could they do this again with a larger animal with weights that could be applied without any potential discomfort? One hopes so. Larger animals are harder to work with, of course. But it's wild to imagine that putting on a weight vest might help you lose weight, even for a field which has no shortage of strange results relating to genetics/diet/metabolism/weightloss once you go beyond theological doctrine like CICO.
- ohiovr 9y agoThanks for that. On the flip of this concept do astronauts have more difficulty with appetite in space than they do on earth due to the feeling of weightlessness?
- gwern 9y agoI believe they have trouble with everything, but it's so general that you can't attribute it to a single cause like 'the osteocyst weight homeostat goes haywire' (for example, how would that cause the eye problems?).