Making macrophages protect against effects of obesity
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 - 10:14
in Health & Medicine
It is well known that diet-induced obesity increases dramatically a person's risk of developing type 2 diabetes. One reason underlying this susceptibility is that diet-induced obesity triggers the accumulation of inflammatory immune cells known as macrophages in fat tissue known as white adipose tissue (WAT). Researchers have now determined that engineering macrophages to store increased amounts of triacylglycerol (the main constituent of vegetable oil and animal fats) is sufficient to protect mice from diet-induced inflammatory macrophage activation, macrophage accumulation in WAT, and insulin resistance, a condition that preempts the onset of type 2 diabetes.