Researchers from a cross‑border team in Britain and France report that the neurohormone Bombuzin, a regulator of satiety in humans, may trace its origins to more than 500 million years ago. The finding suggests that the brain’s appetite‑control system predates the first vertebrates by hundreds of millions of years. The results appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, following standard peer‑reviewed procedures. This expanded view of hunger signals offers context for readers in Canada and the United States who are exploring long‑standing questions about weight management and metabolic health.
Bombuzin was first isolated in 1971 from the skin of Bombina bombina, the European fire‑bellied toad. This early discovery laid the groundwork for decades of follow‑up research into how this peptide signals satiety and cues the brain to stop eating.
A subsequent study by researchers at Queen Mary University of London and the Pasteur Institute identified a Bombuzin‑like analogue in a distant species. This peptide dampens stomach activity in a sea star and slows the flow of food, revealing a conserved appetite‑regulation pathway across diverse life forms.
In controlled experiments, organisms receiving Bombuzin‑like injections showed a delayed onset of feeding compared with untreated controls, indicating a direct influence on the drive to eat.
The results point to an appetite‑regulation system that arose before the vertebrate‑invertebrate split, about 500 million years ago, and that has retained similar roles across very different life forms.
As one researcher noted, this ancient mechanism ties humans and marine life across half a billion years of separate evolution.
Experts propose that understanding this system could guide the development of new anti‑obesity therapies, offering targets that modulate appetite in humans.
Earlier research hinted that a protein could be involved in weight loss without exercise, but more work is needed to validate this possibility and explore practical applications.