Scientists already knew that if we overate
科学家已经知道 如果我们吃得太多
fat cells blow up like balloons
脂肪细胞就会像气球一样膨胀
to hold more and more fat.
从而容纳更多脂肪
But to their surprise, the research team found that the fat cells
让他们感到惊讶的是 研究小组发现
were also manufacturing
脂肪细胞也会产生一种
a hitherto unknown hormone, leptin.
迄今为止从未发现过的激素 瘦蛋白
To find out that the fat cell was itself producing a hormone
对于脂肪细胞自身可以产生激素
and actually actively participating
并且积极地参与到互相连通的
in a communication network was again revolutionary.
脂肪网络当中的发现是一项革命性的进展
It's changed the way we view fat tissue ever since.
它改变了我们看待脂肪组织的方式
It's not as dumb as we thought.
它并非如我们想象般迟钝
A dumb cell was turning out to be a smart storage system.
迟钝的细胞意外地成为了活跃的储存系统
The fat cells of the thin mice were manufacturing lots of leptin.
瘦老鼠的脂肪细胞产生了大量的瘦蛋白
The researchers quickly discovered
研究人员很快发现
that the obese mouse had none.
肥胖老鼠体内没有任何瘦蛋白
So researchers gave the fat
研究人员向胖老鼠体内注入了
mouse leptin to see if it would stop eating.
瘦蛋白 观察其是否能够停止进食
The results were profound. The
研究的结果具有重要的意义
mice lost 40% of their weight after just four weeks.
老鼠仅四周就减掉了百分之四十的重量