Influence of physical activity on leptin receptor expression in adult women

描述（由申请人提供）：近几十年来，高血压和心血管疾病的患病率随着肥胖的增加而增加。该项目探索了一个假设，即一个人的身体活动水平会影响瘦素受体的表达，瘦素是一种主要由脂肪组织产生的激素，会增加血压。瘦素还能改变单核细胞的功能，单核细胞在动脉粥样硬化的发病机制中起着核心作用。年龄在21到40岁之间的健康受试者将被评估身体脂肪、习惯性体育活动水平、有氧能力、心血管功能和单核细胞瘦素受体表达。该项目的目标是：(a)鉴定和验证一种生物标志物（单核细胞上瘦素受体的表达），它可能为确定心血管疾病的风险和监测运动干预的反应提供一种新的方法；(b)确定瘦素如何影响单核细胞功能。如果体育活动被证明可以降低瘦素受体的表达，从而打破肥胖和心血管疾病之间的关键联系，那么这些信息可以作为基于运动的预防和治疗计划的激励。少强调减肥本身，因为减肥很难达到或保持，而多强调运动对健康的好处，不管体重结果如何。公共卫生相关性：超重使个体患心血管疾病的风险更高。该项目将研究脂肪细胞如何与免疫系统细胞沟通，从而导致高血压和动脉粥样硬化，以及体育活动如何破坏这种不健康的沟通。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The prevalence of hypertension and cardiovascular disease has increased in recent decades in parallel with increasing obesity. This project explores the hypothesis that a person's physical activity levels influence expression of receptors for leptin, a hormone produced primarily by adipose tissue that increases blood pressure. Leptin also modifies the function of monocytes, cells that play a central role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Healthy subjects between the ages of 21 and 40 will be assessed for body fat, habitual physical activity levels, aerobic capacity, cardiovascular function, and monocyte leptin receptor expression. The goals of this project are to (a) identify and validate a biomarker (leptin receptor expression on monocytes) that may provide a novel method for determining cardiovascular disease risk and for monitoring the response to exercise intervention; and (b) to determine how leptin affects monocyte function. If physical activity is shown to reduce leptin receptor expression, thus breaking a critical link between fatness and cardiovascular disease, such information can be used as incentive in exercise-based preventive and treatment programs. Less emphasis could be placed on weight loss itself, which is so difficult to attain or maintain, and more emphasis could be placed on the health benefits of exercise, regardless of weight outcomes. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Being overweight puts an individual at greater risk of cardiovascular disease. This project will investigate how fat cells communicate with cells of the immune system to cause high blood pressure and atherosclerosis, and how physical activity disrupts this unhealthy communication.