The long term goal is to identify the potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of obesity and its associated disorders by studying the driving factors of activation of brown adipose tissue (BAT) in human adults. Whereas activation of brown adipose tissue (BAT) in human adults has been considered as a potential therapeutic target to battle obesity since it was identified in 2009, the underlying mechanisms of beige adipocytes appearance in human adults is unclear. The objective of this proposal is to investigate the role of autophagy in mediating the inhibitory effect of mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) in regulating human brown adipocytes. The central hypothesis is that autophagy plays a critical role in regulating browning of white adipose tissue and mediates the beneficial effect of mTORC1 inhibition on thermogenesis in human brown adipocytes.
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Protein expression levels in lean and obese human brown adipose tissue samples will be quantified via Western Blot and comparatively analyzed using a student T-test.
Timeframe: Up to six years after date of sample collection.
Gene transcript expression levels in lean and obese human brown adipose tissue samples will be quantified via quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction and comparatively analyzed using a student T-test.
Timeframe: Up to six years after date of sample collection.