(JP) Kyoto Univ. team discovers fat-storage protein in mice

[Guest guest]

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/newse/20020618wo72.htm

 

Kyoto Univ. team discovers fat-storage protein in mice

 

Yomiuri Shimbun

18 Jun 2002

 

Gastric Inhibitory Polypeptide (GIP), a protein

produced in the duodenum during digestion, helps

maintain body fat in mice, a team of Kyoto University

researchers learned, according to an article in the

Monday issue of the U.S. medical journal Nature

Medicine.

 

The researchers, including Kyoto University Prof.

Hiroshi Seino and Yuichiro Yamada, an assistant

professor at the university, found that when genes for

producing GIP were removed from mice, the mice did not

put on fat even when fed with high-fat feed, the

article said.

 

The study is likely to help in the development of

preventive treatments or even a cure for obesity, the

researchers said.

 

About 30 years ago, GIP was found to be responsible

for repressing the release of gastric acid.

 

The team located GIP receptors, which are essential

for the activation of GIP, and created special test

mice by destroying part of the receptor genes in order

to stop GIP from functioning.

 

Over the course of a year, the team raised a group of

the special mice and a group of ordinary mice, feeding

both groups an extra-high fat diet. The ordinary mice

given the high-fat feed got fat, while almost none of

the special mice did, according to the researchers.

When the researchers checked the rate at which the

mice burned fat, they found the special mice burned

large amounts of fat in their sleep.

 

The team also confirmed that enzymes that assist fat

storage were activated when GIP combined with the

receptors.

 

Seino said: " GIP's function could be to brace the body

for famine by economizing on fat burning and keeping

it in the body. The development of a drug to block the

receptors could prevent people from getting fat and

fight obesity. "

 

Copyright 2002 The Yomiuri Shimbun

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup

http://fifaworldcup.