WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Biologists Leslie Leinwand of the University of Colorado Boulder and Jonathon Long of Stanford University have discovered a compound in python blood that can suppress appetite. This compound helps pythons eat enormous meals and then go months without food while staying healthy.
Pythons can grow as long as a telephone pole, swallow an antelope whole, and survive months or even years without eating, all while keeping their hearts strong and maintaining plenty of muscle. Leinwand's earlier research showed that after a meal, a python's heart expands by 25 percent, and its metabolism speeds up 4,000 times to digest the massive meal.
To understand how these superpowers work, Leinwand partnered with Long, an associate professor of pathology at Stanford School of Medicine who studies metabolic byproducts in blood, known as metabolites. Long's lab had previously studied racehorses to understand how their bodies manage energy during intense sprints, giving insight into extreme metabolism in animals.
For their new study, the researchers collected blood from ball pythons and Burmese pythons that were fed once every 28 days, sampling the blood immediately after a meal. They identified 208 metabolites that increased significantly after eating. One molecule, called para-tyramine-O-sulfate (pTOS), surged 1,000-fold.
'Obviously, we are not snakes,' said Long. 'But maybe by studying these animals, we can identify molecules or metabolic pathways that also affect human metabolism.'
Further experiments, done with researchers from Baylor University, tested pTOS in mice. They found that giving high doses of pTOS to both obese and lean mice suppressed appetite by acting on the hypothalamus-the brain's appetite center-without causing digestive issues, muscle loss, or reduced energy.
pTOS is produced by the snakes' gut bacteria. It doesn't naturally occur in mice, but it is found in humans at low levels and increases slightly after a meal. In future studies, the team plans to explore how pTOS affects humans and to investigate the roles of other metabolites that surge after pythons eat.
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