Does ’starving’ fat suppress appetite and reverse obesity?
Washington, Feb 2 (IANS) Peptides that target blood vessels in fat and cause them to go into programmed cell death could become a model for future weight-loss therapies. A team led by Randy Seeley of University of Cincinnati’s (U-C) Metabolic Diseases Institute has found that obese animal models treated with pro-apoptotic (pro-cell death) peptide experienced decreased food intake and significant fat loss. White adipose (fat) tissue is vascularised, much like a tumour, and growth of fat tissue is highly dependent on the tissue’s ability to build new blood vessels – a phenomenon called angiogenesis. Inhibiting adipose angiogenesis – essentially “starving” fat tissue – can reverse the effects of a high-fat diet in mice and rats, says Seeley. “The body is extremely efficient at controlling energy balance,” says Seeley, professor in UC’s internal medicine department and recipient of the 2009 Outstanding Scientific Achievement Award from the American Diabetes Association. “Think of fat tissu
