Francesco Celi who works as an endocrinologist at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, said, “Brown adipose tissue is coming to the forefront of research in diabetes and obesity because its role is burning energy.”
Brown fat burns energy
Brown fat is known to be helpful in burning energy in contrast to white fat that stores energy. It keeps the organisms warm.
Lately, it has been established that brown fat is present in adults too and is not just limited to small animals and babies as was thought earlier.
This very conclusion prompted researchers to think of controlling obesity in adults by boosting brown fat stores and activity in their bodies.
Research details
It was already known to the researchers that PRDM16 (PR domain containing 16) is a vital protein required in the production of brown fat cells from myoblasts, the pre-muscle cells.
In the latest study conducted by Bruce Spiegelman and his colleagues from the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School in Boston, it was found that C/EBP-beta along with PRDM16 is needed in order to have any effect on myoblasts in mice.
Both the proteins led to cell division which in turn resulted in production of energy-burning brown fat cells.
Referring to the similarities between bona fide brown fat cells and these new ones, Spiegelman said, “They certainly look like they are brown adipose tissue.”
To observe how effective the new cells were in burning energy, the researchers moved the engineered mouse cells into living mice. Distinct fat pads were formed at the site where the cells were injected.
Apparently, the cells did not do any harm to the mice.
Findings may lead to new cures
This method of producing energy-burning brown fat cells could pave the way for new cures and treatments. One way could be taking out a person’s cells, modifying them to produce C/EBP-beta and PRDM16, and then finally putting them back in the body to create brown fat cells.
Another option could be looking for synthetic compounds that help to divide the cells already present in a person into brown fat cells.
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