Endocrine Abstracts

Obesity-associated inflammation is a major contributory factor in the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, the mechanisms underlying the progression of T2DM are yet to be fully elucidated. The adipokine, resistin, has recently been implicated as a pro-inflammatory cytokine in obesity-related T2DM. Therefore, the aim of this study was to characterise the role of resistin in the innate immune inflammatory pathway within isolated human abdominal subcutaneous ...

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a centrally expressed peptide with potent orexigenic properties, released post-prandially to stimulate appetite, regulated by insulin and altered by obesity. NPY is expressed in adipose tissue which suggests it may have a potential effect on altering appetite control in obesity. To date no study has investigated NPY and its regulation in human adipose tissue. Therefore, the aims of this study were to 1) determine the depot-specific expression in abdomin...

Childhood obesity and its later progression to Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM) are known to be associated with sub-clinical inflammation; although the underlying cause for this is unclear. However, studies suggest that bacterial endotoxin (LPS) derived from commensal bacteria in the human gastrointestinal tract may contribute directly to sub-clinical inflammation. Human adipose tissue expresses toll like receptors that induce an inflammatory cascade in the presence of endotoxin. Hence,...

Central obesity is strongly associated with sub-clinical inflammation, insulin resistance (IR) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but the intracellular mechanisms involved in its pathogenesis remain unclear. Recent Murine studies have implicated C-jun N terminal kinase (JNK) as an important molecule linking insulin action and inflammation, therefore we investigated JNK in human abdominal adipose tissue (AT). JNK expression/activity was assessed in abdominal subcutaneous (Abd...

Visfatin, a novel adipocytokine preferentially expressed in omental (Om) adipose tissue (AT), has been shown to exert insulin-mimetic effects in mice and humans. Recent studies in Asian populations show elevated serum visfatin levels in subjects with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM), suggesting a potential role for visfatin in the pathogenesis of this disease. Whilst central adiposity is closely related to IR and T2DM, the role of AT in the development of these conditions remai...