Written by: Noelle A. Koo (11th grade / Ashburn, VA USA)
Research Question: How can the stretching of intestines pushing against your gut make you feel more full?
Summary: Researchers have found that the filling of the intestines (as food is ingested) pushes against peoples' guts, which is what makes people want to stop eating. A neuroscientist at the University of California San Francisco and his colleagues studied mice nerve cells. These nerve cells were in the mice's intestines and were able to sense mechanical stretching. This led the scientists to try simulating full intestines in mice by shining lights and using chemicals. As a result, mice ate less. Physically stretching the mice's intestines with salt water or a diuretic (drug causing increased passing of urine) also caused mice to eat less. These findings in mice can help lead to further research about how obesity and major weight gain can be treated through inducing a smaller appetite among people.
Interest: I am interested in this because obesity is a really big issue in the world today, and this finding that the "filling" of an intestine without the means of consuming food could help cease an appetite was really interesting to me. I also found it quite interesting that it is not just the intestines being full that makes people want to stop eating, it is that the intestines fill and expand, pushing against the gut, which sends nerve signals up to the brain to make a person want to stop eating - the processes behind this cycle of eating and then feeling full is quite intriguing.
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