Research

Hormonal

Exogenous administration of the peptide Spexin causes significant weight loss in rodents with diet-induced obesity by reducing caloric intake and inhibiting adipocyte uptake of long-chain fatty acids.

This research identifies Spexin, a peptide naturally produced by fat tissue, as a regulator of weight. In obese humans, Spexin levels are significantly lower than in lean individuals. In rodent models, restoring Spexin levels via injection reduced food intake and fat storage. While not yet a human therapy, it suggests that low Spexin may contribute to obesity and that restoring it could be a therapeutic strategy.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
In rats, Spexin (35 mg/kg/day SC) reduced caloric intake (-32%) with corresponding weight loss. In mice, Spexin (25 mg/kg/day IP) significantly reduced the RER at night, and increased locomotion. Spexin incubation in vitro significantly inhibited facilitated fatty acid (FA) uptake into DIO mouse adipocytes.
José L. Walewski et al. · Obesity · 2014

Why this rating

Strong mechanistic data in rodents and human tissue correlation, but no human clinical trials are reported.

Source

Spexin is a novel human peptide that reduces adipocyte uptake of long chain fatty acids and causes weight loss in rodents with diet‐induced obesity

José L. Walewski et al. · Obesity · 2014

DOI 10.1002/oby.20725

mechanism_onlyCited 188×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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