Welcome words

1. Introduction

Ghrelin, produced mainly in the stomach, is an appetite stimulating hormone, an powerful orexigenic bio-molecule; i.e. it triggers the need for food, our appetite. It has been discovered in 1999 by Japanese scientists, but largely spread-out by British groups, and so then it has been a quite important piece for taking in the workings of feeding patterns and behaviors.

Ghrelin is an amino acid peptide, related to growth hormone, which is secreted primarily in the stomach but is found throughout the gastrointestinal system and even in the hypothalamus and amygdala, among other sites, such as the heart and pancreas. Some claims that the name comes from Growth Hormone releasing, by shorting and gathering, we encounter ghrelin. But exactly how ghrelin exerts its effect is not clear, neither how it is produced, e.g. the complete profile for triggering ghrelin activation and inhibition.

2. The complex process of eating

We can say that eating is one of the simplest activities, it is not necessary being an Einstein for eating with style. Nonetheless, within the body, it is a quite complex process, maybe amongst the most complex ones, given that we are still try to understand it properly for treating medical conditions such as obesity.

Ghrelin receptors in the brain

Ghrelin receptors in the brain
This picture presents the ghrelin receptors in the brain. Source: Nelson and Cox (2004, p.912)

Ghrelin mathematical model (current)

Ghrelin mathematical model (current)
This is the current model for ghrelin

Aim

Aim
This is the general picture of what is chased

Future works

Future works

Likely not for now

- Image processing;

Hypothesized relationship between ghrelin and tastants

Hypothesized relationship between ghrelin and tastants
Hypothesized relationship between ghrelin and tastants. See https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281683781_Taste_and_the_regulation_of_food_intake_It%27s_not_just_about_flavor/reviews/168301

Posts

Below are the posts, organized in order of publication, FPLS (First Published, Last Shown)

Sunday, October 2, 2016

Some insights into an integrative mathematical model

The ambition of this document is to set in evidence the prerequisite for integrative (mathematical) models, mechanism-based models, for appetite/bodyweight control. For achieving this goal, it is provided a scrutinized literature review and it is organized them in such a way to make the point. The quantitative methods exploited by the authors are called differential equations solved numerically; they are discussed briefly since it is not our goal herein to handle details. On the current state of the art, there is no mathematical model to the best of the author’s knowledge targeting at integrating several hormones at once in mathematical descriptions: even for single hormones, the literature is either occasional or do not exist at all; it is depicted some results for simple models already built. As it can be seen, the functions and roles seem fuzzy, most hormones seem to be piloting the same undertaking. The key challenge from a mathematical modeling perspective is how to separate properly the mechanisms of each hormone. The kind of pursuit presented herein could initiate an imperative cascade of mathematical modeling applied to metabolism of bodyweight control and energy homeostasis.

Full text. PDF.

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