Research

The python and natural appetite control: a discovery paving the way for new anti-obesity and anti-sarcopenia drugs

An international study reveals how a compound in python blood suppresses appetite, offering new therapeutic perspectives for obesity and muscle loss.

by Federico Mereta

24 March 2026

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4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

At first glance, the python may appear to be a kind of biological 'superhero'. Perhaps it swallows, albeit slowly, an antelope. And if we follow what happens, we realise that the swallowed animal almost draws inside the big snake, deforming it, with the very heart of the reptilian increasing in volume and contracting more strongly, only to return to normal after digestion.

But there is another striking feature of the python. Once it has been fed a really big meal,it manages to quench its appetite for weeks, even months. without having negative interactions on metabolism. And it is this secret that science now explores, with a study conducted by experts from the University of Colorado Boulder together with scholars from Stanford and Baylor Universities published in Nature Metabolism.

The research particularly highlights the presence of a compound (para-thyramine-O-sulphate - pTOS) that suppresses appetite in the blood of pythons. And it is precisely from this biological model that active ingredients could be derived that could help, in addition to what is already available, in the challenge to obesity and overweight with all the consequences that these entail for metabolism and well-being.

Snake Superpowers

Just think: after one meal, the heart of the royal pythons expands by about a quarter. But above all, there is a devastating acceleration of the metabolism, which becomes faster by almost 4,000 times, given the digestive effort to be endured.

And so, as one of the authors of the study, Leslie Leinwand, points out in a note from the university, there really is a need to understand what lies behind these natural reactions: 'these animals are capable of doing things that we and other mammals cannot do, and attempts are being made to exploit these abilities for therapeutic interventions,' is the scholar's comment.

The research, therefore, attempted to unlock the python's secrets, going far beyond classical laboratory test tubes and the most commonly tested animals, such as murine models. Together with Jonathan Long, of Stanford University, they then went on to assess the energy metabolites in the animal's blood.

Then a kind of targeted analysis was carried out to search for traces of the principles in the blood of royal pythons and Burmese pythons, fed once every 28 days, immediately after a meal.

The key in a molecule

Analysing more than 200 different metabolites whose presence in the blood increased after a meal, the experts focused on one molecule, para-thyramine-O-sulphate (pTOS), which increased after dietary stress by a thousandfold. And it was at this point that the circle of inter-university collaborations came full circle, as together with experts from Baylor University, high doses of pTOS were administered to obese or lean mice.

It has been shown that this compound acts on the hypothalamus and thus on appetite, resulting in weight loss without direct effects on the digestive tract or sarcopenia, i.e. loss of lean muscle mass.

Please note: pTOS is the work of the snake's digestive microbiota and in human urine it increases only slightly after a meal. But it is not present in mice, so it has never been considered in animal studies.

Moral of the story? Leinwand herself points out in a statement that an appetite suppressant has essentially been discovered that works in mice without some of the side effects of GLP-1 drugs. Not only that: the lack of negative action on muscle tissue of this potential future drug could also find applications beyond simple weight loss, proposing itself as a treatment option for sarcopenia and thus the loss of muscle tissue typical of certain diseases and especially of advanced age.

From reptiles to therapies

Having said that the US experts also aim to evaluate other metabolites, this is certainly not the first time that a reptile has been mentioned as a 'knowledge base' for metabolically active treatments.

Just think in this sense of exenatide, a drug that is practically a copy of a hormone found in the saliva of a lizard called Gila Monster, capable of mimicking the effect of Glp-1,

the hormone that also comes into play in the mechanism of action of modern treatments for diabetes and obesity.

It can help improve glycaemic control by stimulating insulin secretion and slowing down gastric emptying, so it also helps weight loss. The python, in any case, is an almost unique experimental model, as shown by another research coordinated by Leinwand that appeared in PNAS.

The study shows that the animal's heart, although enlarged after the meal, thanks to a series of unique genetic and metabolic reactions, returns to normal and although perhaps a little larger, does not lose its vigour.

In short, in snakes that have consumed the meal, the heart muscle bundles that allow them to contract and relax while becoming softer in the days following the meal increase their contraction strength. And this allows the heart muscle to remodel itself. By stealing these mysteries from the reptile, perhaps new answers will also be found in the future for the treatment of cardiovascular and not just metabolic diseases.