IRIG: Obesity without insulin resistance and AMPK crystal

There are many hypotheses for insulin resistance under lipotoxicity. These include inflammation, liver steatosis, ER stress, oxidative stress, PKC/Ceramide and hyperinsulinemia. These concepts are generated to explain pathogenesis of insulin resistance in obesity. In the current issue of Nature Medicine, a report suggests that the length of fatty acid chain is critical for the lipotoxicity. If synthesis of 18C fatty acid is abolished in the body, the gene knockout mice will develop obesity on high fat diet as the wild type mice do. However, insulin sensitivity will not be severely damaged by the obesity. The gene is called Elovl6 that catalyze biosynthesis of 18C fatty acid from 16C fatty acid. The study suggests that fatty acid with a chain longer than 16C is “Toxic” (See attachment 1 and 2). Elovl6 is similar to SCD1, but SCD1 KO mice are not obese on HFD. This paper is recommended by Dr. Eric Ravussin at Pennington.            
 
        AMPK is an intracellular sensor of energy (ATP) supply. Activation of MAPK leads to an increase in fat and glucose oxidation in mitochondria in liver and muscle, promotes insulin sensitivity in peripheral tissues, and regulate food intake through the hypothalamus. In “Nature”, the crystal structure of AMPK is reported. The study suggests that in normal condition, AMPK binds to ATP for inactivation (See attachment 3).
 
By Jianping at PBRC

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Jianping Ye, MD

Professor of Molecular Biology
Pennington Biomedical Research Center
Louisiana State University System
6400 Perkins Road
Baton Rouge, LA 70808
Phone: (225)763-3163
E-mail: yej@pbrc.edu
Webpage: http://labs.pbrc.edu/generegulation/index.htm
           
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