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

虽然饮食中的脂肪是一种重要的能量来源，但在我们的社会中，人们对哪些脂肪是“好”的，哪些是“坏”的存在很多困惑。这个问题的很大一部分是人们倾向于把不同的脂肪归为一类，然后对它们进行笼统的描述。例如，人们普遍认为所有的饱和脂肪都是有害的，但我的实验室和其他实验室最近的研究表明，情况并非如此。有些饱和脂肪会引起炎症，有些则不会；这很重要，因为炎症会导致身体处理糖和脂肪的方式崩溃。体内炎症的主要来源之一是脂肪组织。这项工作的目的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SCD1）的影响。我们认为SCD1不仅在代谢中起作用，而且还有助于预防一些饱和脂肪引起的炎症。换句话说，当SCD1不起作用时，一些饱和脂肪引起的炎症会更严重。我们将从几个方面来研究这个有趣的想法。首先，培养的脂肪细胞（无论是否含有SCD1）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），这些蛋白质本质上与体内其他细胞和组织进行交流。一些脂肪因子引起炎症，另一些防止炎症。在用不同的膳食脂肪处理脂肪细胞（无论是否含有SCD1）后，我们将检查从这些细胞中释放出哪些脂肪因子。我们还将使用从没有SCD1的小鼠身上收集的脂肪组织进行类似的研究。其次，我们将给小鼠喂食（无论是否含有SCD1）饱和脂肪含量不同的饮食，并检查脂肪组织炎症。总之，这些研究将使我们更好地了解SCD1如何控制饮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了解不同饱和脂肪的不同作用，我们认为这将减少该领域的困惑。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良好的培训机会。********

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.********