Obesity is a chronic disease characterized by body fat increase which, in turn, is due to the increase of the volume or/and the number of adipocytes. The adipocytes are cells derived through differentiation from preadipocytes (fibroblast-like cells). There are many endogenous and environmental factors affecting this process. Nutritional fatty acids have an important role on this process mainly through the regulation of certain transcriptional factors. Adipocytes are not only energy depots but they contribute to body weight regulation, as well as to other body functions, by secreting necessary factors. Our research project has two directions:
1. The study of the role of adipocytes in immune response. Our interest is focused on signal transduction pathways used by TNFá in adipocytes. TNFá is a proinflammatory cytokine with an important role in obesity and NIDDM.
2. The study of the effect of fatty acids as well as of certain endogenous derivatives on the differentiation process of adipocytes. From previous reports and from our results it is obvious that there are fatty acids that promote ant others that inhibit this process. These findings reinforce the hypothesis, that not only the quantitative but also the qualitative fatty acid composition of food affects the appearance and the development of obesity.
Speaker: Mary Mavri, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Athens
Time: Monday, 23 January 2006, 13:00