Obesity. Enzyme blocker prompts mice to shed weight.

A multidisciplinary team may have discovered an important new weapon in the battle of the bulge. On page 2379 of this issue, the team reports that a molecule that is needed for fat synthesis in the body may play a key role in appetite signaling in the brain. Moreover, the investigators produced a synthetic inhibitor of this molecule that spurred a dramatic drop in appetite and weight in mice.