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Disrupted Fat Cell Signaling In Obese Mice Linked To Increased Cell Death In Enlarged Hearts

Date:
March 18, 2005
Source:
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Summary:
Disrupted fat cell signaling in obese mice has been linked to increased cell death, or apoptosis, in enlarged hearts. According to the Johns Hopkins researchers who led the study, the research is needed to understand how obesity contributes to enlarged hearts (hypertrophy), subsequent heart failure and increased risk of death.
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Disrupted fat cell signaling in obese mice has been linked to increased cell death, or apoptosis, in enlarged hearts. According to the Johns Hopkins researchers who led the study, the research is needed to understand how obesity contributes to enlarged hearts (hypertrophy), subsequent heart failure and increased risk of death.

"The work also suggests a biological route for potential therapies that could block or reverse obesity's harmful effects on the heart," says lead investigator and cardiologist Lili Barouch, M.D., an assistant professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart Institute.

The researchers studied heart muscle enlargement and cell death in more than 20 male and female mice, some normal and others inbred for obesity due to changes in the amount and function of the hormone leptin. Some mice were leptin deficient, while others had nonworking leptin receptors. Made by fat cells, leptin regulates appetite and energy balance. Normally, greater quantities of leptin are released from fat cells when an animal is "full," as a signal to stop eating, but the signal is blocked inobesity. Comparison of heart tissue samples from obese mice and normal mice showed that when leptin signaling was disrupted, the hearts became enlarged and apoptosis increased by more than 10 times what occurs in normal tissue. When leptin levels and function were restored, apoptosisactivity returned to nearly normal levels.

Cardiac myocyte apoptosis is associated with left ventricular hypertrophy in murine models of obesity. Lili Barouch, Daquing Gao, Lei Chen, Shakil Khan, Shubha Raju, Koenraad Vandegaer, Christopher O'Donnell, Dan Berkowitz, Chiming Wei, and Joshua Hare.


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Materials provided by Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. "Disrupted Fat Cell Signaling In Obese Mice Linked To Increased Cell Death In Enlarged Hearts." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 18 March 2005. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050309103700.htm>.
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. (2005, March 18). Disrupted Fat Cell Signaling In Obese Mice Linked To Increased Cell Death In Enlarged Hearts. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050309103700.htm
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions. "Disrupted Fat Cell Signaling In Obese Mice Linked To Increased Cell Death In Enlarged Hearts." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050309103700.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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