In a major breakthrough, scientists have discovered an elusive protein that is involved"Okay"Fat - The production of brown fat, and it has been found to promote the formation of these cells even in white fat. Learned how"Turn on"The generation of this energy-burning cell opens the door to a new type of *** that researchers have not been able to find until now.
Professor Alexander Pfeifer and Laia Reverte-Salisa found proteins that increase healthy brown and beige fat formation.
Brown adipose tissue (BAT) is key to using blood sugar and fat molecules to produce heat, a process known as thermogenesis. This also requires a lot of energy (or calories) as fuel. Unfortunately, by the time we reach adulthood, most of the brown fat cells have given way to white adipose tissue (WAT), which has a less efficient energy-burning system and is more inclined to act as a storage space for the excess calories we consume.
Elite athletes may have as little as 3% of white adipose tissue throughout their body, while those with obesity may have as much as 70% of white adipose tissue, making it increasingly difficult.
However, researchers at the University Hospital in Bonn, Germany, believe that they have cracked the code that can help adults swing the pendulum so that good fat in the body becomes more and forming"Beige fat", or turn the white one into a brown one.
Professor Alexander Pfeifer, Director of the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University Hospital of Bonn, said:"Exercise and dieting are not enough to lose weight effectively and sustainably. Our high-energy foods cause energy to be stored in white fats. But it's not that easy, as the body stores energy in a low-calorie diet. Therefore, our goal is to achieve additional energy release"。
Together with researchers from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, the Helmholtz University of Munich, and the University of Toulouse-Paul-Sabatier, the Bonn research team studied the CAMP signaling pathway in fat metabolism.
Laia Reverte-Salisa, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bonn, is the first author of the study. In a mouse model, the team found that an unknown protein called EPAC1 (or an exchange protein directly activated by CAMP) is key to the growth of brown adipocytes. This pathway and protein are also present in human adipocytes, and the researchers used organoid models to represent human brown fat, confirming that the function of EPAC1 is the same.
Pfeifer said"Our study shows that EPAC1 is an attractive target to increase the mass of brown fat and thus increase energy expenditure. "
What's more, they found that EPAC1 gene variants interfere with the protein's function and are associated with an increase in body mass index (BMI). Scientists believe that by harnessing the stimulating effects of EPAC1 on brown fat cells, there will be a clear path to developing a new type of a** that will make it easier to ** and maintain weight.
The study was published in the journal Nature Cell Biology.