A new study has revealed that a protein in the brain helps regulate food intake and body weight. The findings reveal a potential new avenue for the treatment of obesity and may help explain why medications that are prescribed for epilepsy and other conditions that interfere with this protein such as gabapentin and pregabalin can cause weight gain. The protein alpha2/delta-1 has not been linked previously to obesity. A team led by Maribel Rios Ph.D. associate professor in the department of neuroscience at Tufts University School of Medicine found that alpha2/delta-1 facilitates the function of another protein called brain-derived neurotrophic
