News and talk about GLP-1 drugs is everywhere these days – from their enormous success in treating type 2 diabetes and obesity to their astronomical prices, drug shortages, mounting litigation, and what sometimes seems like an ever-growing list of other conditions that the medications cause. could possibly treat. There are new headlines every day.
Although the drugs have abruptly stolen the spotlight in recent years, researchers have been developing and understanding them for decades, dating back to the 1970s. And even since they were developed, the drugs still contain mysteries and unknowns. For example, for years researchers thought they worked directly in the intestines to lower blood sugar levels and make people feel full. After all, the drugs mimic an incretin hormone, glucagon-like peptide-1, that does exactly that. But instead, studies have since shown that they work in the brain.
In fact, the molecular receptors for GLP-1 are distributed in many places throughout the body. They are found in the central nervous system, heart, blood vessels, liver and kidneys. Their presence in the brain even plays a role in inflammation. As such, research into GLP-1 continues to flourish as scientists seek to understand the role it could play in treating a range of other chronic conditions.
