The Change Mariner

Leptin Turns Fat-Storing Cells Into Fat-Burning Cells

University of Texa Southwestern Press Release:

Increasing leptin, a protein involved in regulating body weight, in laboratory animals transforms fat-storing cells into unique fat-burning cells, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas report. They speculate that these findings could provide "a quick and safe solution" to the obesity problem in humans.

Dr. Roger Unger, director of the Touchstone Center for Diabetes Research at UT Southwestern, has found that increasing leptin in laboratory animals converts fat-storing cells into fat-burning cells.

Researchers attribute the change in the cell's structure and function in rats - from fat storing to fat-burning - to a massive increase in the action of mitochondria, the principal energy source of the cell. The increase in mitochondria, which also led to substantial weight loss in the rats, was found two weeks after researchers injected the leptin gene.

Findings from the study will appear in an upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and are currently available online.

"This is the first careful examination of the fat cells after leptin therapy," said Dr. Roger Unger, director of the Touchstone Center for Diabetes Research at UT Southwestern, a physician at the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the study's senior author. "The structure of the cells changed from the normal appearance of a fat cell to a very novel cell that's really never been seen before. There's no precedent for a cell that appears like this.

"The ability to convert fat cells into fat-burning cells may suggest novel therapeutic strategies for obesity.