fat cells

(Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology) As millions of Americans gear up for the Thanksgiving holiday, a new report published online in the FASEB Journal, may provide some relief for those leery second helpings.

Researchers describe a discovery that may allow some obese people avoid common obesity-related metabolic problems without losing weight: they make a common antioxidant, melanin, in excess.

Even more promising is that some of the antioxidant drugs that can mimic the melanin effect are FDA-approved and available.

For those of us trained to read nutrition labels, conventional wisdom tells us that fat isn't good for the heart.

But a team researchers has set out to use fat cells to beef up heart muscles damaged by heart attack -- and they're using an out-of-this-world device to do it.

Researchers have identified stem cells with the capacity to build fat. Although they have yet to show that the cells can renew themselves, transplants of the progenitor cells isolated from the fat tissue of normal mice can restore normal fat tissue in animals that are otherwise lacking it.

The findings may yield insight into the causes of obesity, a condition characterized by an increase in both the size and number of fat cells.

(Purdue University) How fat cells become after being exposed to a specialized electrical field is helping researchers determine whether cells are normal, cancerous or a stage of cancer already invading other parts of the body.

Adiponectin, a protein produced by fat cells, may play a pivotal and counterintuitive role in cardiovascular health for older Americans according to a new study.

(Public Library of Science) A team of Swedish researchers has characterized novel systems properties of insulin signaling in human fat cells.

Their mathematical modeling, described in an article published June 20 in the open-access journal PLoS Computational Biology, provides further insight into energy level maintenance (via the hormone insulin) within our bodies.

Resveratrol, a compound present in grapes and red wine, reduces the number of fat cells and may one day be used to treat or prevent obesity, according to a new study.

Reduced levels of a hormone produced by fat cells and linked to the development of insulin resistance may also be related to a higher risk of kidney disease, according to a study led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Thomas Jefferson University.

Overexpressing a protein involved in the uptake of fat in muscle of mice can improve their tolerance to cold temperatures, reports a new study that showcases the over-looked role muscle may play in the cold response.

When temperatures drop, mammals respond by generating heat (thermogenesis), through mechanisms like shivering and breaking down 'brown fat' (high energy fat cells that are especially prominent in newborns and hibernating animals).

The machinery responsible for energy production in fat cells is working poorly as a result of obesity. This may aggravate and work to maintain the obese state in humans, suggests the recent Finnish study.

Studying rare cases of young identical twins with large differences in bodyweight a research group has shown that already in the very early stages of obesity, clear changes in the function of the cellular mitochondria can be observed.