ROLE OF THE TRANSIENT RECEPTOR POTENTIAL CHANNEL TRPA1 IN OBESITY. A NEW THERAPEUTIC TARGET?

• Grant number: 22/04584-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: April 01, 2023
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Physiology of Organs and Systems
• Principal Investigator: Ana Maria de Lauro Castrucci
• Grantee: Cristhian David Sua Cespedes
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 17/24615-5 - Breaking a paradigm? Melanopsin, a canonical photo-pigment, acting as sensor to entrain the clock in light unexposed organs, and its putative interaction with TRP channels: a trans-disciplinary study involving physiological and pathological aspects, AP.TEM
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/06651-8 - Role of TRPA1 in human thermogenesis: a promising approach for obesity treatment?, BE.EP.DR

Abstract

Obesity is generally defined as the abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat (adipose tissue), resulting in several health risks. Overweight as well as obesity can trigger chronic diseases of the cardiovascular system including heart disease and cerebrovascular accidents (one of the main causes of death in the world). Obesity, being a multifactorial disease, also leads to metabolic disorders such as diabetes and its associated conditions, and we cannot rule out its association with a variety of cancers; as well as the predisposition to transmissible diseases including the Covid-19 scenario. Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are reported as one of the key players involved in thermal sensation, among others such as mechanical, nociception, touch, taste, olfaction, and vision. It is well described that wild-type mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) become obese; however, the available data concerning the development of obesity as well as the metabolic changes are controversial in TRP knockout mice. There are several approaches with HFD diets, induction times, and especially different temperatures that may contribute to this problem. Likewise, there is a gap in the literature related to non-canonical processes of the TRPA1 channel, for example, its role in obesity. Considering this, the following question arises: what is the role of the TRPA1 channel, a thermosensor, in the modulation of obesity in animals acclimated to temperatures that provide the homeostatic metabolic state and under the influence of thermal (and metabolic) stress; and if we could consider it as a novel therapeutic target.