Cellular and molecular mechanisms by which fatty acids regulate adipose tissue metabolism.

虽然饮食中的脂肪是能量的重要来源，但在我们的社会中，对于哪些脂肪是“好”的，哪些是“坏”的，有很多困惑。问题的一个很大的部分是倾向于将不同的脂肪组合在一起，然后对它们进行一般性的陈述。例如，人们普遍认为所有的饱和脂肪都是不好的，但我的实验室和其他人最近的工作表明并非如此。虽然有些饱和脂肪会引起炎症，但有些不会;这很重要，因为炎症会导致身体处理糖和脂肪的方式发生变化。体内炎症的主要来源之一是脂肪组织。这项工作的目标是研究不同的膳食脂肪如何引起脂肪组织炎症，以及这是否受到一个关键基因（称为SCD 1）的影响。我们认为，SCD 1不仅在新陈代谢中发挥作用，还有助于预防某些饱和脂肪引起的炎症。换句话说，当SCD 1不起作用时，一些饱和脂肪引起的炎症会更严重。我们将从几个方面研究这个有趣的想法。首先，在培养物中生长的脂肪细胞（无论是否具有SCD 1）将用不同的膳食脂肪处理，然后我们将检查与炎症相关的基因和蛋白质。脂肪细胞释放蛋白质（称为脂肪因子），基本上与身体中的其他细胞和组织沟通。一些脂肪因子引起炎症，而另一些脂肪因子预防炎症。用不同的膳食脂肪处理脂肪细胞（无论是否具有SCD 1）后，我们将检查从这些细胞中释放哪些脂肪因子。我们还将使用从没有SCD 1的小鼠中收集的脂肪组织进行类似的研究。其次，我们将给小鼠（无论是否患有SCD 1）喂食饱和脂肪含量不同的饮食，并检查脂肪组织炎症。总而言之，这些研究将有助于更好地了解SCD 1如何控制膳食脂肪对炎症的影响。此外，这项重要的工作将帮助加拿大人更好地理解不同饱和脂肪的不同作用，我们认为这将减少该地区的混乱。此外，这项研究将为希望提高营养和生物学知识的学生提供极好的培训机会。

While fat in the diet is an important source of energy, there is a lot of confusion in our society about which fats are "good" and which ones are "bad". A big part of the problem has been the tendency to group different fats together and then make general statements about them. For example, it is widely believed that all saturated fats are bad, but recent work by my lab and others suggests otherwise. While some saturated fats cause inflammation, some do not; this is important because inflammation can cause a break down in how the body handles sugars and fats. One of the major sources of inflammation in the body is fat tissue.***The goal of this work is to study how different dietary fats cause fat tissue inflammation, and whether this is affected by a key gene (called SCD1). We believe that SCD1 not only has a role in metabolism, but also helps to prevent inflammation caused by some saturated fats. In other words, the inflammation caused by some saturated fats will be worse when SCD1 is not functioning. We will study this interesting idea in several ways. First, fat cells (that either have SCD1 or not) grown in culture will be treated with different dietary fats and we will then examine genes and proteins linked with inflammation. Fat cells release proteins (called adipokines) that essentially communicate with other cells and tissues in the body. Some adipokines cause inflammation and others prevent inflammation. After treating fat cells (that either have SCD1 or not) with different dietary fats, we will examine which adipokines are released from these cells. We will also do similar studies using fat tissue collected from mice that do not have SCD1. Second, we will feed mice (that either have SCD1 or not) diets that differ in saturated fat content and examine fat tissue inflammation. ***Altogether, these studies will lead to a better understanding of how SCD1 controls the impact of dietary fats on inflammation. In addition, this important work will help Canadians better appreciate the different roles of different saturated fats, which we feel will reduce confusion in the area. As well, this research will provide excellent training opportunities to students who would like to improve their knowledge of nutrition and biology.********