Skip to main content

Chemistry concepts behind hunger

Chemistry concepts behind hunger



Hunger is a chemical reaction, in which the cells in the hypothalamus, which is a small part of the brain that connects the nervous system to the endocrine system, are activated. The hypothalamus is located under the midline of the brain, behind the eyes, and it stimulates or inhibits many of the body’s processes, such as food and water intake, hunger, and thirst. Neurotransmitters within the hypothalamus are released in both hunger and satiation feelings, producing proteins. Neuropeptide Y, or NPY, and agouti-related peptide, also called AGRP are proteins that hunger, whereas the proteins that inhibit hunger are cocaine andamphetamine-regulated transcript, abbreviated as CART, and melanocyte-stimulating hormone, especially alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone. Several hormones in the blood secreted from the digestive system, involving lipocytes are in control of these sensations. For example, Ghrelin is a hormone that is made in the stomach and Insulin-like peptide 5, which is another hormone that mainly produced in the colon; these hormones work on stimulating hunger. Insulin and glucagon are two other hormones that can signal hunger. However, Leptin, Amylin, Insulin, Oxyntomodulin, and Cholecystokinin are some inhibitors of hunger hormones. Therefore, this balance of the nervous system and the endocrine system occurs while working together; one sends electrochemical signals, and the other controls cell signals based on hormone production and release form its organs. 


ــــــــــــــــــــــــ
Recommended to read;

https://chem.ku.edu/sites/chem.ku.edu/files/docs/CHEM190/hormones_eating.pdf

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Tears as a remedy for the skin

Tears as a remedy for the skin Expressing spontaneous emotions, particularly the negative ones, considered a sign of immature or inability to self-control, but crying, in fact, is a sign of emotional intelligence, which allows realizing one’s feelings and expresses them appropriately. Tear composition : it contains softener substances that clean, protect your eyes, and  moisturize them. The salty nature of tear, containing sodium, calcium, magnesium, ammonia, and some vitamins, also oxygen, phosphorus, and other minerals supports the composition of tear and completes the tear function effectively. Tears are not one type, however, three types of tears: Basal tears : tears ducts secret this type. They are rich in antibacterial protein, which keeps the eyes moisturize each time you blink, helping in improves one’s vision. Existing constantly in the eyes; thus, they prevent dryness of tunica mucosa . Aging decreases the secretion of this type of tears. Newbo...

Chemistry of cleaning materials

Chemistry of cleaning materials Chemistry keeps you clean, in which cleaning products are formulated with different chemical properties. The main reason behind inventing the soap was cleaning dishes and using it in medicine, as Galen mentioned. Babylonians around 2800 BC were the first, who manufactured soap-like materials, using plants and animal fats boiled with ashes and water.  Whereas, the ancient Egyptians in 1550 BC made a product similar to soap through mixing animal and vegetable oils with alkaline salts, and women used it for washing their hairs. Also, in 600 BC the Phoenicians mixed goat fat with wood ash; Syrians and Palestinians were the first, who used olive oil, laurel oil, and thyme oil and potash. However, modern cleaning products vary, for example soap, detergent, air freshener, and bathroom polish, containing a number of chemicals. Soap includes sodium salts of long-chain carboxylic acids obtained by natural resources from plants and anima...

Vaccines

Vaccines A vaccine is a biological preparation of weakened, killed, or fragmented microorganisms, or toxins, antibodies, or lymphocytes that introduce into the body to produce immunity to a specific disease. Vaccination is a method, which prevents disease occurrence instead of treats it.  Vaccines vary into different types, including live-attenuated , inactivated , toxoid , and conjugate as well as recombinant vaccines.  Administration of a vaccine is an important factor in order to ensure transporting it to the proper part of the body; therefore, transport of a vaccine has several mechanisms. For example, intramuscular , subcutaneous , or intradermal injection, and oral administration in addition to intranasal spray are applications that delivers vaccine. Live-attenuated vaccines Live-attenuated vaccines contain whole bacteria or viruses, but these are weakened and do not cause illness in a healthy individual, however, immune system patients are not ...