Resistin: the Pièce de Résistance of the Metabolic Syndrome?”
Event details
| Date | 25.11.2013 |
| Hour | 12:15 |
| Speaker |
Joseph Rutkowski, PhD, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX (USA) Bio: With training and degrees in Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Dr. Rutkowski brings to the Touchstone Diabetes Center at UTSW a strong background in interdisciplinary physiology research and a desire to incorporate new approaches towards the understanding of adipose tissue biology. His past work in the physiology of lymphatic circulation ranged from fluid transport and the pathology of lymphedema to inflammation and mechanisms of immune cell trafficking. His current work seeks to integrate both the biochemical and biophysical roles of the interstitial microenvironment and microvascular biology in modulating tissue metabolism and inflammation: local factors that regulate systemic well-being. |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Resistin was originally identified as an adipocyte-derived factor upregulated during obesity and a contributor to obesity-associated insulin resistance. Clinically, resistin has been implicated in cardiovascular disease in a number of different patient populations. To address these phenomena, we generated an adipocyte-specific resistin production model with moderate overexpression to probe the impact of resistin signaling on atherosclerotic and metabolic read outs. We found increased atherosclerosis when we overexpress resistin in LDL-Receptor (LDL-R)-/- mice. This is in part related to elevated serum triglyceride levels and a reduced ability to clear triglycerides upon a challenge. Further phenotypes, independent of the LDL-R-/- background, confirmed increased adiposity associated with a more pronounced insulin resistance. A hallmark of the model is a disproportionate increase in circulating leptin levels. These mice thus recapitulate both the proposed negative cardiovascular correlation and that of insulin resistance. A unifying mechanism for this complex phenotype is a resistin-mediated central leptin resistance that we demonstrate directly both in vivo as well as in organotypic brain slices. In line with reduced sympathetic nerve system (SNS) outflow, we find decreased brown adipose tissue activity. Resistin overexpression leads to a complex metabolic phenotype driven by resistin-mediated central leptin resistance, leading to reduced brown adipose tissue activity. The resistin-mediated hypothalamic leptin resistance is therefore a likely underlying mechanism for resistin action in both atherosclerosis and insulin resistance
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Practical information
- Informed public
- Free
- This event is internal
Organizer
- Prof. Melody Swartz