Insight into the role of fat
scientists at Lund University in Sweden. Their work shows that fat
acts as a signal to cells in important organs, such as the liver
and heart. The research offers new opportunities for understanding
the development of diabetes and understanding the role of fats in
the human body.
A new receptor for fatty acids has been discovered by a team of Swedish scientists, who say the research offers new opportunities for understanding the genesis of diabetes.
The researchers from the Wallenberg Neuroscience Center at Lund University, Sweden have found a previously unknown receptor on the surface of cells in the heart, liver, and muscles as well as the insulin cells of the pancreas. This led them to a whole family of receptors that are activated by short, medium-length, and long fatty acids. They have dubbed these receptors FFARs (free fatty acid receptors).
The team now claims that fat is not only a component in food, but can also act as a signal substance in the body, and activate a special receptor in the cells of important organs like the heart and liver. A receptor works like an antenna on the surface of a cell that receives chemical signals from its surroundings and relays them inside the cell. Many of our most common diseases have to do with disturbances in the function of various receptors.
The fact that fats can function as signal substances to activate events inside the cell is an entirely new insight. It is also interesting that the newly discovered receptors have a clear connection with diabetes: they are influenced by modern anti-diabetes drugs (so-called glitazones), and they exist on the surface of cells of precisely those organs that are involved in sugar metabolism: the liver, muscles, heart, and pancreas.
"The discovery of FFAR can provide a new explanation for the connection between fat and diabetes," said study leader Professor Christer Owman. He hopes the research breakthrough will help to clarify the dual role of fats in the body, being both essential to life and potentially damaging.
The researchers have also demonstrated that the newly discovered receptors also occur in the brain. In this context there are possible connections to the importance of fats in the development of the brain and of brain disorders like Parkinson's disease. Christer Owman and his associates hope to be able to study this more closely in the future.
Results from the research will be published in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. The team has applied for a patent on the function of these receptors in order to be able to use them to develop drugs for diabetes and obesity.
