Lipids in Health and Disease

Background: Obesity and its complications lead to vascular injury, atherosclerosis, diabetes and pathological angiogenesis. One of the models to study the obesity and its entanglements is the New Zealand Obese mice model. Aim of this study was to check the effect of high fat diet on changes in biochemical parameters as well as on process of angiogenesis in NZO mice. Methods: NZO mice were fed with standard (ST) or high fat (HF) diet for seven weeks. Body weight and serum biochemical parameters were monitored. The PECAM1 positive vessel-like structures immunostaining, as well as the gene expression of the matrigel penetrating cells by microarray (confirmed by real-time PCR method) were analyzed. Results: Mice fed with HF diet developed obesity. Number of newly created vessels with lumen was correlated with hyperglycemia and animal weight gain. The number of PECAM1 positive cells in matrigel tended to increase during HF diet. Microarray results revealed changes in gene expression (activation of the oxidative stress and insulin resistance, inhibition of apoptosis and cell differentiation), however without markers of endothelial cell network maturation. Conclusion: Observed changes in the NZO mice on HF diet argue for the hyperglycemia related activation of angiogenesis, leading to the formation of pathological, immature network. Introduction Obesity, insulin resistance (hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia), dyslipidemia (hypertriglyceridemia with low blood HDL levels) hyperleptinemia and hypoadiponectinemia, elevated biochemical parameters of inflammatory response, as well as activation of coagulation cascade are main features of metabolic syndrome leading to microand macrovascular injury, hypertension, and atherosclerosis [1,2]. These events impair vessel functions and lead to diabetic retinopathy, which is a major cause of blindness in industrialized countries [3]. High fat (HF) diet promotes progression of impaired glucose tolerance, induces insulin resistance and with Published: 6 April 2009 Lipids in Health and Disease 2009, 8:13 doi:10.1186/1476-511X-8-13 Received: 26 January 2009 Accepted: 6 April 2009 This article is available from: http://www.lipidworld.com/content/8/1/13 © 2009 Balwierz et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Dr. Goldberg's research has focused on abnormalities of lipoprotein metabolism, macrovascular disease in diabetes, and the role of triglycerides in atherosclerosis. He has received grant support in a number of investigational studies that involve atherogenicity of apolipoprotein B-containing lipoproteins, regulation of plasma triglyceride by lipase enzymes, diabetic macrovascular disease, and lipid uptake and toxicity in the heart. Among Dr. Goldberg's honors is a MERIT Award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. He was chosen in 2007 to give the R. Levy Lecture and in 2017 to give the Lyman Duff Lecture on atherosclerosis research at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions and the E. Bierman Lecture on diabetes and heart disease at the 2010 American Diabetes Associated Meeting. In 2008 he was the C. Kilo visiting professor at Washington University. He has previously served as chair of the NIH Metabolism and CADO (cellular aspects of diabetes and obesity) study sections and currently is a member of the Myocardial Ischemic and Metabolism (MIM) study section.

Judith Storch, Ph.D.
The Storch laboratory studies cellular lipid transport mechanisms, focusing on lipid-binding proteins at the structural and functional levels. The laboratory uses biochemical, biophysical, molecular, cell biological, genetic, and physiological techniques to better understand how lipids are transported and targeted in cells. The transport of dietary lipid products in the intestinal enterocyte has been a particular focus. The studies provide fundamental information relevant to diseases including obesity, heart disease, and lysosomal storage disorders. Dr. Isabel Medina is Full Professor in Food Chemistry at The Spanish National Council of Research CSIC. Her research is devoted to enhance quality and nutritional value of marine and aquaculture products targeting the bioactive role of marine lipids. Her lab in the Institute of Marine Research IIM-CSIC at Vigo has developed advanced Lipidomic and Redox Proteomic platforms based on Mass Spectrometry to study how marine lipids act against inflammation and oxidative stress associated to dietary diseases. These studies provide basic information related to the formation of omega-3 lipid mediators as resolvers of inflammation and protein oxidation as the main subject of in vivo oxidative imbalance. The analysis of carbonylated proteins, also referred as 'carbonylome', reveals an individual response of proteins to marine lipids which are able to modulate critical metabolic pathways.
Isabel received the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Chemistry from the University of Santiago de Compostela, SP. She continued her scientific postdoctoral education at the University of Davis, CA, the University Federico II in Naples, and the School of Biological Science in Guilford, U.K., where she applied biophysical techniques to study marine lipids as parts of the human diet and fish feeding. She has been on charge of different scientific responsibilities as a member of the Spanish Advisory Body for Technology Transference on charge of the management of Natural Resources, Farming, Agricultural Sciences, Food, and Biotechnology. She is currently responsible of the national coordination of research in Food Science and Technology in CSIC. She was Vice President of the SEAFOODPLUS Research Platform, International Platform on Fisheries and Aquaculture Products and she is member of the Doctorate School of the University of Florence. She is the recipient of the Galician Academy of Sciences Award.

Harini Sampath, Ph.D.
Dr. Sampath is an Assistant Professor of Nutritional Sciences and Director of the Lipidomics Core at the New Jersey Institute for Food, Nutrition, and Health (IFNH). Research in the Sampath laboratory utilizes nutritional, genetic, and biochemical approaches to study the regulation of cellular desaturases, including the multiple isoforms of the delta-9 desaturase, stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD). The monounsaturated lipid products of these enzymes play critical roles in lipid accumulation, cellular signaling, and maintenance of membrane fluidity with implications to numerous pathologies, including cardiometabolic diseases, intestinal inflammation, and cancers. The lab is focused on elucidating the cell-type specific regulation and roles of these enzymes, and their lipid substrates and products.

Chunmin C. Lo, Ph.D.
Dr. Lo is an Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences and the director of Mouse Metabolic Phenotyping Core Facility in the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Lo's laboratory investigates that apolipoprotein A-IV (ApoA-IV) and cholecystokinin (CCK) act on neural pathways to control lipid transport, glucose metabolism and energy homeostasis. To reach the goals, Dr. Lo and her team members use rodent models with vagal deafferentation, denervation of sensory and sympathetic nerves and intracerebroventricular cannula implantation as well as genetic mouse models to reveal the effect of gut peptides in the regulation of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, ex-vivo methods are used to characterize the underlying mechanism of lipolysis and gut peptide secretion. Dr. Lo and her team have demonstrated that 1) ApoA-IV interacts with CCK to regulate energy homeostasis; 2) ApoA-IV requires vagal nerves and CCK to relay satiating signals to the brain; 3) ApoA-IV stimulates CCK release via lysophosphatidic acid receptor 5; 4) ApoA-IV elevates thermogenesis in brown adipose tissue; 5) CCK is involved in the regulation of obesity and insulin sensitivity; and 6) chylomicron formation stimulates neuronal activation in the brain.

Lordana Quadro, Ph.D.
Dr. Loredana Quadro is a Professor of Food Science and member of the Rutgers Center for Lipid Research (RCLR) and of the Institute of Food Nutrition and Health (IFNH) at Rutgers University. She received her B.S. degree from the School of Biology at the University of Naples (Italy) and her Ph.D. degree in Biotechnology from the School of Medicine at the University of University of Naples (Italy). Her postdoctoral training was in Nutritional Biochemistry at Columbia University in New York. Dr. Quadro's research aims at understanding the mechanisms of vitamin A and carotenoids absorption, transport and metabolism in mammalian tissues by using genetically modified mouse models. A major focus of her research is on the maternal-fetal metabolism of vitamin A and its carotenoid precursor beta-carotene with the ultimate goal to understand how to prevent or improve congenital defects as well as maternal pathological conditions associated with both the deficiency and excess of the vitamin.