Japanese researchers find fat-busting enzyme

An enzyme that becomes more active when fat cells inside the body store fat has been found by researchers at Osaka Bioscience Institute and Osaka University of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

It is thought this discovery might lead to the development of a drug that prevents obesity. When researchers suppressed the activity of the prostaglandin D2 synthetic enzyme in mice during experiments at the cellular level, the amount of fat accumulated was dramatically reduced.

The research team first noticed that mice genetically engineered to produce excessive amounts of prostaglandin D2, a sleep-inducing substance, tended to become obese. More detailed studies found that the fatter mice had higher levels of the prostaglandin D2 synthetic enzyme in their fat cells.