Doctoral Dissertation Research: Assessing weight-gain tendencies in a non-human primates

博士论文研究：评估非人类灵长类动物的体重增加趋势

• 批准号: 2341173
• 负责人: Maureen Devlin Hamalainen
• 金额: $ 3.86万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-03-01 至 2026-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2341173&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Assessing; weight

White adipose tissue (WAT) is involved in energy (fat) storage and related metabolic disorders (e.g., obesity). The high level of WAT in humans, as compared to other primates, is interpreted as an adaptation to the assumed frequent dietary scarcity faced by our hominin ancestors. This concept is central to the idea that human bodies are adapted to face scarcity, and thus that humans are evolutionary predisposed to store energy in the form of fat (the thrifty-genotype and thrifty-phenotype hypotheses). The current obesity epidemic, according to this idea, results from a mismatch between a past environment of scarcity and the contemporary dietary abundance that is found in many places around the globe. If this idea is correct, the obese-tendency trait should be found in humans but not in other primates. However, very few data exist to indicate whether or not other non-human primates present this characteristic. If this trait is present in other non-human primates, it would suggest that a high WAT level is an ancient evolutionary trait and not a recent adaptation to scarcity. This doctoral dissertation project addresses this question by investigating how dietary changes affect body composition in humans and baboons. The study includes a variety of outreach activities, and collaborations with the Great Ape Heart project, which is constituted by a group of experts that aid in understanding and treating cardiac disease in great ape species.To assess whether the obesity-prone tendency of humans is a trait shared with other primates, the researchers: (1) examine how dietary composition correlates with dietary biomarkers in humans; (2) assess body composition and bone mineral density in baboons (Papio anubis) that ate a low fiber but high fat and sugar diet, and (3) compare adipose deposits and lean body mass between species using DiceCT scans. The study informs about the variation in the plasticity of body composition across primate species, providing insights into the evolutionary history of human and non-human primate adiposity.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

白色脂肪组织(WAT)参与能量(脂肪)的储存和相关的代谢紊乱(如肥胖)。与其他灵长类动物相比，人类体内Wat的高水平被解释为对我们的原始人祖先经常面临的饮食匮乏的适应。这个概念是这样一种观点的核心，即人体适应于面对稀缺，因此人类在进化中倾向于以脂肪的形式储存能量(节俭-基因型和节俭-表型假说)。根据这一观点，目前的肥胖症流行是过去稀缺的环境与当今全球许多地方丰富的饮食之间的不匹配造成的。如果这个想法是正确的，那么肥胖倾向的特征应该在人类身上找到，而在其他灵长类身上找不到。然而，很少有数据表明其他非人类灵长类是否存在这种特征。如果这一特征在其他非人类灵长类动物中也存在，这将表明高Wat水平是一种古老的进化特征，而不是最近对稀缺的适应。这个博士论文项目通过调查饮食变化如何影响人类和狒狒的身体成分来解决这个问题。这项研究包括各种推广活动，以及与大猿心脏项目的合作，该项目由一组专家组成，帮助理解和治疗类人猿物种的心脏病。为了评估人类肥胖倾向是否是其他灵长类动物共有的特征，研究人员：(1)检查饮食组成与人类饮食生物标记物的相关性；(2)评估食用低纤维但高脂肪和高糖饮食的狒狒(Papio Anubis)的身体组成和骨密度，以及(3)使用DiceCT扫描比较不同物种之间的脂肪沉积和瘦体重。这项研究揭示了灵长类物种身体成分可塑性的差异，为人类和非人类灵长类肥胖的进化史提供了洞察力。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。