# Washington University School of Medicine

Activating a Brain Circuit Slashes Fat in Mice — A Promising But Distant Route to Treating Obesity

Researchers at Washington University found that activating a specific brain‑originating neural pathway rapidly reduced whole‑body fat in mice without dietary change, a result published in Nature Metabolism. The finding highlights a potential central mechanism for controlling adiposity, but major translational, safety and ethical hurdles remain before human therapies could emerge.