Endocrine Abstracts

Adipose tissue (AT) plays a central role in integrating energy metabolism and glucose homeostasis. It is the major site of fatty acid storage as triglycerides and is body’s largest cholesterol pool. In AT cholesterol is mostly found in its free, non-esterified form. There is accumulating evidence that cholesterol imbalance in AT is closely associated with adipocyte dysfunction and obesity-mediated metabolic complications, including low levels of high-density lipoprotein c...

The anti-diabetic drug, metformin, is associated with progressive decrease in serum vitamin B12 levels whereas vitamin B12 deficiency is related to increased insulin resistance and dyslipidaemia by altered methylation. As the risk of vitamin B12 deficiency is increased among metformin users, it is of utmost importance to examine how metformin response in vitamin B12 deficient population.We investigated the cellular mechanism of metformin in vitamin B12 i...

Background: The presence of brown adipose tissue (BAT) in adults offers an opportunity to examine inflammatory factors that may affect metabolic function in states of obesity. Gut-derived lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which is elevated in obesity, and initiates the innate immune response in white adipose tissue, has not been fully studied in BAT. The interactions between LPS, TLR4 and ß3-adrenergic receptors in BAT is unknown. ß3-adrenergic receptor ligands as CL 316,243...

Background: Brown adipose tissue (BAT) thermogenesis offers an appealing prospect to combat obesity. Obesity is characterised by a state of chronic inflammation in adipose tissue mediated by the secretion of a range of inflammatory-cytokines. Our previous work has highlighted that a gut-derived inflammatory agent, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), reduces brown adipocyte activity, insulin sensitivity and mitochondrial-function and is increased with obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus...

The renin angiotensin system (RAS) is targeted as means of medical intervention for hypertensive associated complications of stroke, heart failure and obesity. Ultimately, the inhibition of Angiotensin II(ANGII)/Angiotensin II type 1 (AT1) receptor complex has been key in reducing raised blood pressure. Diabetic neuropathic pain (NP) is highly prevalent in the United Kingdom, associated with an increasingly aged population. There is growing acknowledgment that the vascular com...

Background: Chemerin is a multifunctional adipokine involved in pathogenesis of metabolic disease by regulating inflammation, adipocyte plasticity and glucose metabolism. It is known to be influenced by age, adiposity and triglycerides, and supports important roles in systemic lipid and glucose metabolism.However, the direct acute effects of circulating chemerin on varying metabolic disease states given a high–saturated fat meal has not been addressed.<p clas...

Introduction: Central obesity is a significant risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), with omental adipose tissue (AT) particularly involved in such risk. Additionally, obesity can cause low-level gut-derived endotoxemia, which may drive metabolic dysfunction in AT through mitochondrial damage and reduced BRITE (brown-in-white) adipocytes. Bariatric surgery reduces obesity and may prevent such dysfunction. This study investigated whether endotoxin: 1) impairs mitocho...

Neuropathic pain (NP) is a microvascular complication affecting between 30-50% of people living with diabetes. Current painkillers including non-steroidal pain killers and anti-convulsant are ineffective. At the level of the spinal cord (SC), capillary regression is associated with the onset of NP in diabetic rodent models. Our aim was to investigate angiotensin II mediated pericyte activation in relation to vascular degeneration and the onset of NP. Adult male C57Bl/6J mice w...

Background: Dysfunctional adipose tissue in obesity is known to contribute to metabolic diseases, including type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This may be due to increased gut-derived endotoxemia (LPS) reducing brown adipose tissue (BAT) activity and altering mitochondrial function. However, the effect of LPS on BAT activity in 3D culture models has not been studied, despite giving a better representation of in-vivo tissue. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of LPS o...

Background: Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and associated mitochondrial dysfunction contribute to the pathogenesis of obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Studies show broccoli can reduce inflammation in cancer and may therefore mitigate inflammation-induced cellular disruption that precedes insulin resistance in human adipocytes. Therefore these studies investigated the impact of freeze-dried broccoli extracts (BE) on ER stress and mitochondrial dy...