(Press-News.org) CINCINNATI—Cardiac researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found that a certain cellular pathway is linked to obesity-related disorders, like diabetes, heart disease and fatty liver disease.
These findings, being presented at the American Heart Association's Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology (ATVB) 2012 Scientific Sessions in Chicago, April 19, 2012, could lead to a potential molecular target for metabolic diseases in humans.
Building on previous research, Tapan Chatterjee, PhD, and researchers in the division of cardiovascular diseases at UC found that genetically "deleting" the enzyme histone deacetylase 9 (HDAC9) completely protected mice against the health consequences of high-fat feeding, like elevated blood sugar, cholesterol levels and fatty liver disease.
Chatterjee says HDAC9 has been found to lead to obesity-induced body fat dysfunction.
"Failure of fat cells to differentiate and properly store excess calories in obesity is associated with adipose tissue (fat) inflammation, fatty liver disease, insulin resistance, diabetes and increased cardiovascular diseases," he says. "We know that dysfunctional fat tissue is the underlying culprit in obesity-related diseases.
"Caloric intake promotes HDAC9 down-regulation to allow the conversion of precursor fat cells to 'functional' fat cells, capable of efficiently storing excess calories for future use and also maintaining whole-body lipid and glucose stability," Chatterjee continues. "Unfortunately, during chronic over-feeding, the HDAC9 level is up-regulated in fat tissue, thereby blocking the conversion which leads to adipose tissue dysfunction and the onset of diseases such as diabetes, liver disease, high blood pressure and heart disease—the nation's No. 1 killer."
Chatterjee says that in previous studies, researchers found that elevated HDAC9 expression in fat cells was the underlying molecular culprit for dysfunctional fat tissue during obesity.
"In this study, we used 'knockout' mouse models to test this theory," he says. "Deleting the HDAC9 gene completely prevented mice from developing obesity-related diseases during chronic high-fat feeding. These results mean the discovery of a potential molecular culprit in obesity-related disease development."
Chatterjee says emerging evidence from his laboratory indicates that unhealthy dietary habits over a long period of time promote specific changes in a human's epigenetic structure—meaning changes in the gene structure that influences its function—to switch HDAC9 expression to a higher level.
"This switch paves the way for development of a chronic disease state, despite subsequent dietary intervention," he says. "We are currently focusing our attention to design drugs to reverse such epigenetic changes to bring HDAC9 expression down and restore normal fat cell function in obese individuals, representing a novel treatment strategy for obesity-related disease conditions."
INFORMATION:
This study was funded by a grant from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute.
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(CHICAGO) – In the 19th century, Jean-Martin Charcot, the celebrated neurologist, developed a "vibration chair," to relieve symptoms of Parkinson's disease. Charcot reported improvements in his patients, but he died shortly thereafter and a more complete evaluation of the therapy was never conducted. Now, a group of neurological researchers at Rush University Medical Center have replicated his work in a study to see if Charcot's observation holds true against modern scientific testing.
Results from the study indicate that while vibration therapy does significantly improve ...
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- In a study appearing this month in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, MIT researchers report that emissions from cars, trucks, planes and powerplants cause 13,000 premature deaths in the United Kingdom each year.
The researchers analyzed data from 2005, the most recent year for which information is available. They found that among the various sources of emissions in the country, car and truck exhaust was the single greatest contributor to premature death, affecting some 3,300 people per year. By comparison, the researchers note, fewer ...
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a five-year, $9 million grant to the University of Houston's Texas Center for Learning Disabilities to conduct research on the causes and treatment of learning disabilities in children and adolescents. UH is one of four universities nationally to receive funding from the NIH for a learning disability research center.
The substantial number of today's adolescents struggling with weak literacy skills presents an urgent national concern, yet little is known about reading disabilities beyond the early elementary grades. ...
MyBinding.com, one of the country's leading retailers of document finishing machines and supplies, is partnering with Boom Fitness to provide their employees with a fitness program.
"The health of our employees is very important to us," said Jeff McRitchie, Vice President of Marketing for MyBinding.com. "Many of our employees sit for most of the day and we wanted a way to help our staff stay active."
McRitchie joined Boom Fitness for personal reasons and brought several employees along with him. As more employees joined, the two companies decided ...
Stressed out lizard moms tend to give their developing embryos short shrift, but the hardship may ultimately be a good thing for the babies once they're born, according to a study published in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology.
Stress changes the way animals allocate energy. During predator attacks or food shortages, hormones are released that help the body to access stored energy. But for pregnant females there's a potential trade-off. Stress hormones could rob precious energy from developing embryos, leading to offspring that aren't as healthy.
A research ...
The need to swab the noses of pregnant women and newborns for the presence of MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) may be unfounded, according to a Vanderbilt study now available online and published in the May issue of Pediatrics.
The study's senior author, Buddy Creech, M.D., MPH, assistant professor of Pediatrics, said it is often feared that mothers carrying MRSA may risk transmitting an infection to their newborn babies, but Vanderbilt Pediatric Infectious Diseases researchers found that babies rarely became ill from MRSA infections, despite frequently ...
WasThatGood recently announced the launch of a new website meant to offer the public an arena to voice their opinions of the London theatre. The site is designed to fill a gap in a niche where misreporting and sycophancy abound and, as such, offers theatre-goers not only a fair assessment of various productions by their peers but also a venue to air their own opinions without censure.
In the age of information, it is surprising that people who enjoy the London stage and all it has to offer have little choice when it comes to finding honest and transparent reviews on ...
Philadelphia– While most teens do buckle up when driving, new research shows that novice teen drivers who live in states with so-called "secondary enforcement" seat belt laws are less likely to use the life-saving devices than those in "primary enforcement" states. The research, conducted by The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and State Farm®, is published in the American Journal of Public Health. The research found seat belt use rates differed as teens moved through the probationary licensing process known as Graduated Driver Licensing (GDL).
A primary seat ...
Imagine owning a television with the thickness and weight of a sheet of paper. It will be possible, someday, thanks to the growing industry of printed electronics. The process, which allows manufacturers to literally print or roll materials onto surfaces to produce an electronically functional device, is already used in organic solar cells and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) that form the displays of cellphones.
Although this emerging technology is expected to grow by tens of billions of dollars over the next 10 years, one challenge is in manufacturing at low cost ...
Boulder, Colo., USA – Five new Geosphere articles posted online today include additions to themed issues: "Exploring the Deep Sea and Beyond"; "Seeing the True Shape of Earth's Surface: Applications of Airborne and Terrestrial LiDAR in the Geosciences"; and "Geodynamics and Consequences of Lithospheric Removal in the Sierra Nevada, California." Locations studied: the Sierra Nevada, California; the San Juan volcanic field, Colorado; the western Alaska continental margin: Kodiak to Unimak; Pyramid Lake, Nevada; and the Appalachian fold-thrust belt, Pennsylvania.
Geophysical ...
