Androgen regulation of intestinal lipid metabolism, and the impact of dietary lipids

肠道是营养物质，特别是膳食脂肪的吸收、分泌和代谢的重要器官。人体在整个生命周期中如何调节肠道脂质吸收、分泌和代谢在很大程度上是未知的。越来越多的证据表明，激素，如睾酮，可能对调节体内组织的脂质合成有直接影响，从而改变血脂，影响健康状况。本研究计划的目的是通过动物模型检查脂质吸收和转运过程，确定睾酮在调节肠道脂质代谢中的作用。这项工作的发现将为这一领域提供新的数据，帮助我们理解激素（如睾酮）对肠道的更高调节，并可以进一步转化为睾酮水平变化的生命周期不同阶段的人类健康，以及体内睾酮水平过高或过低的情况。此外，本研究将调查膳食脂肪，特别是不同的多不饱和脂肪酸，包括反式脂肪和n-3脂肪，如何调节体内睾丸激素代谢，以及这如何影响肠道脂质代谢。这项研究的结果将帮助我们了解在肠道和睾酮代谢异常的情况下，在正常的生理阶段，如何使用不同的饮食脂肪来调节肠道和睾酮代谢。

The intestine is an important organ in absorption, secretion and metabolism of nutrients, in particular dietary fats. How the body regulates intestinal lipid absorption-secretion and metabolism throughout the lifecycle is largely unknown. Emerging evidence suggests hormones, such as testosterone, may have a direct effect on regulating lipid synthesis in tissues in the body which can change blood lipids and impact health status. The aim of this research program is to determine the role of testosterone in regulating intestinal lipid metabolism by examining lipid absorption and transport processes using animal models. The findings of this work will provide new data in this area to help us understand the higher regulation of the intestine by hormones, such as testosterone, and can be further translated to human health in different stages of the lifecycle in which testosterone levels change and to conditions where testosterone levels in the body are too high or too low. In addition this research will investigate how dietary fats, in particular different polyunsaturated fatty acids including trans fats and n-3 fats, modulate testosterone metabolism in the body and how this impacts intestinal lipid metabolism. The outcomes of this research will help us to understand how different dietary fats can be used to modulate intestinal and testosterone metabolism in conditions where these processes are aberrant and in normal physiological stages of life.