New drug zaps fat cells in monkeys

I was just thinking there were too many fat monkeys running around.

Stupid drug. Quit sitting on the couch and eating bonbons. Natural way to get thin.

Some people's self worth is clearly tied up in their looks and weight, and that is how they judge others.

The research.....has also shown effects in mice who lost 30% of their body weight during treatment.

“Most drugs against obesity fail in transition between rodents and primates,”

Then why waste time, money, energy and animals' lives on researching mice? Maybe more research needs to be done into implanting brain cells into researchers.

The monkeys in the study were spontaneously obese, meaning they overate of their own free will, avoided exercise and therefore had packed on extra pounds.

Trying to make it sound like the monkeys are naturally obese and the dear researchers are helping them. Animals kept in captivity eat to excess and lounge around out of boredom. It isn't natural. You never see a fat monkey in the wild.

In a world where almost one billion people go to bed hungry every night, instead of trying to treat excess intake of calories using drugs, why not treat it at source - remove all that processed, nutrition-deficient, empty-calorie-laden muck from the supermarket shelves.

Then why waste time, money, energy and animals' lives on researching mice?

To save the lives and life quality of more primates. Agree or not, but public opinion indicates a great deal more care about primates than mice.

In a world where almost one billion people go to bed hungry every night, instead of trying to treat excess intake of calories using drugs, why not treat it at source - remove all that processed, nutrition-deficient, empty-calorie-laden muck from the supermarket shelves.

Yes, but how to do that? Sometimes the task is very difficult, for a variety of reasons. Look at the Palestinians for example. About the only way they are going to get a decent diet is for somebody to go smash Israel. They eat a lot of crap because crap is all Israel will let them have. Then you got kids whose parents feed them only crap and won't change.

In no way do I consider such a drug to be optimal. But I do consider it to be another weapon in the arsenal. Of course everyone should just eat better. But its not always a genuine choice.

Then why waste time, money, energy and animals' lives on researching mice?

To save the lives and life quality of more primates.

But it doesn't. If most drugs fail in transition between rodents and primates, it means that all the tests done on rodents are suspect and have to be repeated on primates because what works on rodents doesn't necessarily work on primates, and vice versa. Which means that not only were all the tests carried out on rodents unnecessary, scientists were wasting time and money messing around with rodents knowing full well that every result they produced would be worthless and that when they moved on to primates they would effectively be starting from zero again - in fact from worse than zero, because of all the rodent results muddying the waters and laying false trails. Using more rodents doesn't make things any better for a single primate. What's the point in perfecting a drug in a mouse if you have no idea until you try it if it's going to work in a monkey or more to the point in a man?

You may as well use little boys to test the efficacy of a drug to combat uterine cancer. And act surprised when the results fail in transition between little boys with no wombs and adult women with wombs.

If it works on a mouse, the odds are better it will work on a primate. If it kills a mouse, odds are it will kill a primate. Its not starting at zero.

Further, primates are larger, age slower and reproduce less. Even in terms of cost I bet one primate is worth near a thousand mice.

If it works on a mouse, the odds are better it will work on a primate. If it kills a mouse, odds are it will kill a primate. Its not starting at zero.

The people doing the research disagree with you. “Most drugs against obesity fail in transition between rodents and primates,” said co-senior author Renata Pasqualini - in other words, if it works in mice, it might or might not work in primates. If it doesn't work in mice, it might or might not work in primates.

Sigh. Cleo, why bother posting when the answers are right here on the internet? Mice are used because:

genetically similar to humans (unlike, say, fruit flies) cheap to house & maintain short life cycle makes it easier to measure disease progress and reactions less outrageous than monkeys easy to work with large litters

Sigh right back at you, katamari. It's possible to find any 'information' you like on the Internet. Doesn't mean it means anything.

No one's quibbling about fruit flies. Mice are not genetically similar to humans.

Cheap isn't cheap if time and money have to be spent repeating tests on more expensive animals because the results fail in transition between rodents and primates.

Easier to measure disease progress and reactions in mice, yes. But see above.

Matter of opinion. Added to which, using animals without reference to their suitability simply because we can is hardly sound science.

Meaningless. You and I may find English easier to speak and understand, but it won't stand us in much stead someplace where they've never heard English before. I don't want scientists to do 'easy' work. I want them to do meaningful, beneficial work.

Goes with 'cheap'. Not cheap if the work produced is going to fail in transition between rodents and primates.

How did you make those neat dots?

??

How did I make those neat dots?