by Cait Wills
Jessica Yue. Credit: Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta
Ways of keeping the heart healthy has widened, with the discovery that the brain can help fight off hardening of the arteries.
Atherosclerosis—hardening and narrowing of the arteries—can be caused by fat build up that causes plaque deposits, and is one of the main causes of cardiovascular disease. Jessica Yue, a newly recruited researcher in the Department of Physiology in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, has shown a link between how the brain can regulate fat metabolism, potentially stopping the development of this disease risk factor in obesity and diabetes.
Her findings, published this month in Nature Communications, the online version of the high-impact Nature publication, outlines how the brain can use the presence of fatty acids, which are building blocks of fat molecules, to trigger the liver to reduce its own lipid production.
"We know that when there is dyslipidemia, or an abnormal amount of fat in the bloodstream, it's dangerous for health—largely because this can lead to obesity, obesity-related disorders such as Type 2 diabetes, and atherosclerosis," says Yue, and that "if you can find ways to lower fats in the bloodstream, it helps to lower these chances of diabetes and cardiovascular disease as a result of this atherosclerosis."
Yue trained at the Toronto General Research Institute under Tony Lam, where she was a recipient of fellowships from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Canadian Diabetes Association. With her associates in Toronto and with Peter Light, professor of pharmacology in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, she looked at how the infusion of oleic acid, a naturally occurring monounsaturated fatty acid, in the brain "triggers" a signal from the hypothalamus to the liver to lower its fat secretion, which Yue says is a "triglyceride-rich, very-low-density lipoprotein. Light is the co-author of Yue's paper in Nature Communications and is the director of the Alberta Diabetes Institute (ADI), where Yue is applying for membership.
"This fat complex is the kind of lipoprotein that is dangerous when its levels in the blood are elevated because it promotes atherosclerosis," she says.
The catch, though, is that this "trigger" doesn't work in obesity, a setting in which blood lipid levels are usually high. "In a model of diet-induced obesity, which then leads to insulin resistance and pre-diabetes, oleic acid no longer provides the fat-lowering trigger to the liver." Yue's findings, though, demonstrate how this faulty signal can be bypassed, unveiling potentially other ways to trigger this same function in obese patients.
This study could potentially impact how obesity and diabetes are treated, says Yue, which is the focus of her future research.
The next steps, she says, will be to look at how the brain can sense other compounds to regulate not only liver secretion of fats, but also liver glucose production, a significant contributing factor to diabetes. As a member of the Group on Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids and with the strength of the ADI, she feels enthusiastic and inspired by her new research environment at the University of Alberta.
"It's a big field and it's emerging," says Yue about neuroscience research in the areas of metabolic disease. "Whereas the peripheral organs have gained a lot of attention in terms of how they release glucose and lipids, it's exciting to see that within the last decade and a half that the brain now is emerging as an organ that has a lot of control over our health."
Explore further: Researchers uncover more clues to how drug reverses obesity, diabetes, fatty liver disease
More information: Nature Communications, http://ift.tt/1AZlbnD 6970.html#affil-auth
Medical Xpress on facebook
Related Stories
Researchers uncover more clues to how drug reverses obesity, diabetes, fatty liver disease
Jan 12, 2015
Researchers at the University of Michigan have identified how a promising drug in clinical trials for the treatment of obesity and related metabolic disorders improves the metabolism of sugar by generating a new signal between ...
Diabetes debate: Triglycerides form in liver despite insulin resistance
Jan 05, 2015
Solving one of the great mysteries of type 2 diabetes, a team of Yale researchers found that triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood and liver, are produced in the liver independent of insulin action in ...
Newly discovered hormone with potential treatment for obesity, type 2 diabetes, liver disease
Nov 17, 2014
Researchers at the University of Michigan have discovered how a previously unknown hormone serves as a messenger from fat cells to the liver and are investigating the potential of developing a new treatment ...
Pellino 3 protein may prevent development of obesity-driven diabetes
Jan 12, 2015
Maynooth University scientists have identified a protein in the body that may have the potential to prevent the development of obesity-driven diabetes.
Scientists identify hormone that reduces calorie burning, contributes to obesity
Dec 08, 2014
Researchers from McMaster University have identified an important hormone that is elevated in obese people and contributes to obesity and diabetes by inhibiting brown fat activity.
Recommended for you
Using stem cells to grow new hair
2 hours ago
In a new study from Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham), researchers have used human pluripotent stem cells to generate new hair. The study represents the first step toward the development ...
Human stem cells could one day be regulated to replace aged, damaged, and missing tissues
4 hours ago
When a salamander loses a tail, it grows a new one. What's the difference, MIT biologist Peter Reddien PhD '02 wondered, between a wound that severs a salamander's tail and one that severs a human spinal ...
Scientists find drug candidates can block cell-death pathway associated with Parkinson's
7 hours ago
In a pair of related studies, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have shown their drug candidates can target biological pathways involved in the destruction of brain cells in Parkinson's ...
Antiangiogenesis drugs could make major improvement in tuberculosis treatment
21 hours ago
Use of the same antiangiogenesis drugs that have improved treatment of some cancers could also help surmount persistent difficulties in treating tuberculosis (TB). In their PNAS Early Edition report, invest ...
Collagen fibres not only passively support bone, tendons and ligaments, but also actively contract
Jan 26, 2015
The bodies of humans and animals owe their strength especially to a fibrous structural protein called collagen. Collagen is abundant in bones, tendons, ligaments and skin. Water, a substance that is not often ...
Possible therapeutic target for common, but mysterious brain blood vessel disorder
Jan 26, 2015
Tens of millions of people around the world have abnormal, leak-prone sproutings of blood vessels in the brain called cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs). These abnormal growths can lead to seizures, ...
User comments
Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more
Click here to reset your password.
Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made.
© Medical Xpress 2011-2014, Science X network
by Cait Wills
Jessica Yue. Credit: Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Alberta
Ways of keeping the heart healthy has widened, with the discovery that the brain can help fight off hardening of the arteries.
Atherosclerosis—hardening and narrowing of the arteries—can be caused by fat build up that causes plaque deposits, and is one of the main causes of cardiovascular disease. Jessica Yue, a newly recruited researcher in the Department of Physiology in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, has shown a link between how the brain can regulate fat metabolism, potentially stopping the development of this disease risk factor in obesity and diabetes.
Her findings, published this month in Nature Communications, the online version of the high-impact Nature publication, outlines how the brain can use the presence of fatty acids, which are building blocks of fat molecules, to trigger the liver to reduce its own lipid production.
"We know that when there is dyslipidemia, or an abnormal amount of fat in the bloodstream, it's dangerous for health—largely because this can lead to obesity, obesity-related disorders such as Type 2 diabetes, and atherosclerosis," says Yue, and that "if you can find ways to lower fats in the bloodstream, it helps to lower these chances of diabetes and cardiovascular disease as a result of this atherosclerosis."
Yue trained at the Toronto General Research Institute under Tony Lam, where she was a recipient of fellowships from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Canadian Diabetes Association. With her associates in Toronto and with Peter Light, professor of pharmacology in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, she looked at how the infusion of oleic acid, a naturally occurring monounsaturated fatty acid, in the brain "triggers" a signal from the hypothalamus to the liver to lower its fat secretion, which Yue says is a "triglyceride-rich, very-low-density lipoprotein. Light is the co-author of Yue's paper in Nature Communications and is the director of the Alberta Diabetes Institute (ADI), where Yue is applying for membership.
"This fat complex is the kind of lipoprotein that is dangerous when its levels in the blood are elevated because it promotes atherosclerosis," she says.
The catch, though, is that this "trigger" doesn't work in obesity, a setting in which blood lipid levels are usually high. "In a model of diet-induced obesity, which then leads to insulin resistance and pre-diabetes, oleic acid no longer provides the fat-lowering trigger to the liver." Yue's findings, though, demonstrate how this faulty signal can be bypassed, unveiling potentially other ways to trigger this same function in obese patients.
This study could potentially impact how obesity and diabetes are treated, says Yue, which is the focus of her future research.
The next steps, she says, will be to look at how the brain can sense other compounds to regulate not only liver secretion of fats, but also liver glucose production, a significant contributing factor to diabetes. As a member of the Group on Molecular and Cell Biology of Lipids and with the strength of the ADI, she feels enthusiastic and inspired by her new research environment at the University of Alberta.
"It's a big field and it's emerging," says Yue about neuroscience research in the areas of metabolic disease. "Whereas the peripheral organs have gained a lot of attention in terms of how they release glucose and lipids, it's exciting to see that within the last decade and a half that the brain now is emerging as an organ that has a lot of control over our health."
Explore further: Researchers uncover more clues to how drug reverses obesity, diabetes, fatty liver disease
More information: Nature Communications, http://ift.tt/1AZlbnD 6970.html#affil-auth
Medical Xpress on facebook
Related Stories
Researchers uncover more clues to how drug reverses obesity, diabetes, fatty liver disease
Jan 12, 2015
Researchers at the University of Michigan have identified how a promising drug in clinical trials for the treatment of obesity and related metabolic disorders improves the metabolism of sugar by generating a new signal between ...
Diabetes debate: Triglycerides form in liver despite insulin resistance
Jan 05, 2015
Solving one of the great mysteries of type 2 diabetes, a team of Yale researchers found that triglycerides, a type of fat in the blood and liver, are produced in the liver independent of insulin action in ...
Newly discovered hormone with potential treatment for obesity, type 2 diabetes, liver disease
Nov 17, 2014
Researchers at the University of Michigan have discovered how a previously unknown hormone serves as a messenger from fat cells to the liver and are investigating the potential of developing a new treatment ...
Pellino 3 protein may prevent development of obesity-driven diabetes
Jan 12, 2015
Maynooth University scientists have identified a protein in the body that may have the potential to prevent the development of obesity-driven diabetes.
Scientists identify hormone that reduces calorie burning, contributes to obesity
Dec 08, 2014
Researchers from McMaster University have identified an important hormone that is elevated in obese people and contributes to obesity and diabetes by inhibiting brown fat activity.
Recommended for you
Using stem cells to grow new hair
2 hours ago
In a new study from Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (Sanford-Burnham), researchers have used human pluripotent stem cells to generate new hair. The study represents the first step toward the development ...
Human stem cells could one day be regulated to replace aged, damaged, and missing tissues
4 hours ago
When a salamander loses a tail, it grows a new one. What's the difference, MIT biologist Peter Reddien PhD '02 wondered, between a wound that severs a salamander's tail and one that severs a human spinal ...
Scientists find drug candidates can block cell-death pathway associated with Parkinson's
7 hours ago
In a pair of related studies, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have shown their drug candidates can target biological pathways involved in the destruction of brain cells in Parkinson's ...
Antiangiogenesis drugs could make major improvement in tuberculosis treatment
21 hours ago
Use of the same antiangiogenesis drugs that have improved treatment of some cancers could also help surmount persistent difficulties in treating tuberculosis (TB). In their PNAS Early Edition report, invest ...
Collagen fibres not only passively support bone, tendons and ligaments, but also actively contract
Jan 26, 2015
The bodies of humans and animals owe their strength especially to a fibrous structural protein called collagen. Collagen is abundant in bones, tendons, ligaments and skin. Water, a substance that is not often ...
Possible therapeutic target for common, but mysterious brain blood vessel disorder
Jan 26, 2015
Tens of millions of people around the world have abnormal, leak-prone sproutings of blood vessels in the brain called cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs). These abnormal growths can lead to seizures, ...
User comments
Please sign in to add a comment. Registration is free, and takes less than a minute. Read more
Click here
to reset your password.
Sign in to get notified via email when new comments are made.
© Medical Xpress 2011-2014, Science X network
0 comments:
Post a Comment