Resistance of liver cells to insulin is the cause of metabolic syndrome

Metabolic syndrome" or, as doctors sometimes call it, the "quartet of death" – a combination of obesity, diabetes mellitus, increased blood cholesterol and arterial hypertension – leads to a high risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and death from myocardial infarction and stroke. The results obtained as a result of the joint work of researchers at the Joslin Diabetes Center, Harvard and Columbia Universities and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology indicate that the cause of the development of metabolic syndrome lies in violations of the insulin-mediated signaling mechanism of lipid metabolism in liver cells.

The authors tried to find an answer to the question: does insulin resistance increase the risk of developing atherosclerosis. To do this, they created transgenic mice in whose liver cells the insulin receptor was inactivated.

Such strictly localized insulin resistance has led to the development of a wide range of disorders associated with metabolic syndrome in animals. Moreover, when eating fat-rich food, transgenic mice experienced a sharp increase in blood cholesterol levels, more than four times higher than the same indicator recorded in the control group contained on an identical diet. Without exception, all transgenic mice developed atherosclerosis, which did not occur in normal animals of the control group.

Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News

11.02.2008