Come On Out! We Have Discovered Exactly Where Fat Is Stored In Cells!
December 18, 2007 by Kendra James, RN
Filed under Diseases & Conditions
Well yee-ha, scientists at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have answered one of biology’s most fundamental questions… where the heck does that fat go after it enters our body?
They have discovered the 2 genes which control the packaging of fat inside a layer of phospholipids and proteins to form those nasty liquid droplets. Oohhh! When I think about what it looks like… I won’t even go there. These genes are coined FIT genes! Funny name, huh?
The researchers, from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, carried out a series of experiments to confirm the role of the genes – dubbed FIT1 and FIT2 – in fat storage. In one they inserted extra copies of the genes into human cells. While this had no impact on fat synthesis, the number of lipid droplets created in the cells soared by up to six-fold. In a second experiment, the researchers knocked out FIT2 in mouse fat cells. This led to a drastic reduction in droplets.
Now that they have identified the genes and the exact proteins that they code for, we can move forward on developing drugs that can regulate their activity. Just think the implications of such drugs- alleviating obesity and the serious chronic diseases that go hand in hand, ie. diabetes, heart disease and high lipids.
via Science Daily
