Neuropeptide receptors as potential pharmacological targets for obesity

Obesity is a chronic multifactorial disease, characterized by an excessive accumulation of adipose tissue. It is usually the result of excessive food intake and/or low energy expenditure. Obesity can be triggered by lifestyle, nutritional, genetic, environmental, hormonal and psychological factors. Several strategies are used to treat obesity, including dietary reeducation, with balanced food intake, increased physical exercise, in order to promote energy expenditure and to overcome the insufficiency in weight reduction by other strategies, and administration of drugs. However, these medications are associated to undesirable side effects, resulting in a high withdrawal rate. Several studies have been focused on the development of compounds that act in the hypothalamic region where the center of the regulation of hunger and satiety is located. Some of them target the activity of endogenous peptides, such as ghrelin pancreatic polypeptide, peptide YY and neuropeptide Y, as well as their receptors. This review addresses the importance of understanding the neuropeptide/peptide hormones and their receptors for the development of novel anti-obesity compounds that may aid in weight reduction as a promising alternative for the treatment of obesity.