Induction of beige adipocyte biogenesis in vitro and related technics and experiments

• Grant number: 22/04763-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date until: October 01, 2022
• End date until: March 08, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Physiology of Organs and Systems
• Principal Investigator: João Paulo Gabriel Camporez
• Grantee: Felipe Sanches Edaes
• Supervisor: Shingo Kajimura
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Harvard University, Boston, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 21/03406-4 - Effect of reduced expression by adeno-associated virus of the estrogen receptor alpha on hepatic metabolism, BP.MS

Abstract

One of the consequences of the Western lifestyle and high-fat diet is diet-induced obesity, which is developed when there is a chronic imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. Globally, roughly 40% of the adult population is considered overweight or obese, making obesity a global epidemic that leads to an increased prevalence of metabolic diseases such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes (DM2), and cardiovascular diseases. The development of obesity and its related sequelae appears to be related to the location where fat is deposited, as shown in several animal models the relationship between adipose tissue accumulation site and the development of metabolic disease. Nowadays, there are few viable therapeutic interventions to treat diet-induced obesity. Visceral fat depots sites show a significant degree of inflammation in the presence of obesity, whereas a "browning" effect can be noticed in subcutaneous fat when the animal models receive external stimuli. Thus, two different thermogenic adipocytes were uncovered in rodents and humans: classical brown adipocytes and beige (or brite) adipocytes. Previously evidence suggested that beige fat role in whole-body energy metabolism was marginal at best, with the sole function of heat generation through the action of the mitochondrial UCP1. Nowadays, significant advances have been made, and new evidence demonstrated that beige fat has important biological roles, with an improvement in metabolic health being observed with an increase in beige fat biogenesis. The prevailing dogma is that UCP1's main action is to mediate brown and beige fat functions and promote anti-obesity and antidiabetic effects. Thus, being the adipose tissue a central organ in the development of insulin resistance and DM2, its importance to our research group, the general objective of this project is to study the necessary technics for the induction of beige adipocyte biogenesis in vitro in mice cell cultures. (AU)