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Researchers who focus on fat know that some fatty tissues are more prone to inflammation-related comorbidities than others, but the reasons are not well understood. Thanks to a new analytical technique, scientists have a clearer view of the microenvironments found in fatty tissue associated with obesity. This advance may explain why some fatty tissue is more prone to inflammation – leading to diseases like type 2 diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disorders – and help guide future drug therapies to treat obesity.
In a new study, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign bioengineering professors Andrew Smith and Mark A. Anastasio, molecular and integrative physiology professor Erik Nelson and nutritional sciences professor Kelly Swanson detail the use of the new technique in mice. The results are published in the journal Scientific advances.
Inflammation of fatty tissue occurs as round complexes of inflammatory tissue called crown-shaped structures. Previous studies have shown that body fat containing these structures is associated with worse outcomes in obesity and associated metabolic disorders, the study reports.
Previously, researchers limited themselves to using 2D slices of tissue and traditional microscopy, limiting what researchers could learn about them.
To get a better view, the team combined a special type of microscopy that uses a 3D sheet of light rather than a beam, a fat removal technique that makes tissue optically transparent, and deep learning algorithms. which help to process the large amount of imaging. data produced.
The researchers found that the crown-like appearances that give these structures their name are, in reality, more 3D shells or concentric spheres surrounding an empty core, Smith said.
“Using our new technique, we can determine the volume of crown-shaped structures, the specific number of cells associated with them, as well as their size, geometry and distribution,” Smith said.
This ability led the team to discover that obesity tends to be associated with a prevalence of rare, massive, crown-shaped structures that are not present in the lean state.
“These very large, crown-like structures are clustered together and located in the center of the fabric,” Smith said. “And there is no way that we can analyze this before using our new technique.”
Smith said the research could lead to new drug therapies and new ways to assess patients’ metabolic health.
“Right now, we know some patients are overweight but in good metabolic health, while others are underweight and in poor metabolic health,” Smith said. “We think having the ability to deeply examine microenvironments with fatty tissue may reveal some of the reasons why this is.
Source of story:
Material provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, News Bureau. Original written by Lois Yoksoulian. Note: Content can be changed for style and length.
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