Obesity and Brain Receptors
• Method: Men and women, mean 39 years old.
• Results: The availability of dopamine D2 receptor
was decreased in obese individuals in proportion
to their BMI.
Wang, G J et al. “Brain dopamine and obesity.” The Lancet 357
(2001): 354-357.
• Method: Women only, mean 40 years old.
• Results: The team found that obesity was associated
with significantly lowered number of opioid receptors
in the brain. However, no changes were observed in
the dopamine neurotransmitter system, which
regulates motivational aspects of eating.
• Karlsson, Henry K., et al. "Obesity is associated with decreased μ-opioid
but unaltered dopamine D2 receptor availability in the brain." Journal of
Neuroscience 35.9 (2015): 3959-3965.