Can cell cultures from fish be used to study obesity in humans?
Studies of overweight carp show that they react similar to humans when they are given medication for obesity and high cholesterol. The question now being posed by scientists is whether studies of fish cells can shed light on the causes of an unbalanced fat metabolism in humans. Fish, rats and humans have more in common than might be imagined. Due to similarities in fundamental metabolic processes, fish cells might serve as a tool to provide more information about human obesity. In a study, young grass carp, which are basically herbivorous, were fed a high fat diet for six weeks. This diet is unnatural for the carp, and the fish became very obese. Further, the carp were given a feed containing the medication fenofibrate for two weeks. Fenofibrate is normally used to lower the cholesterol level and reduce the formation of triacylglyserol (a constituent of fat) in humans. – The obese carp had a high content of triacylglyserol in the blood, which is a known marker in the blood of obese per
