white fat cells become brown fat

White fat cells can be converted into energy-burning brown fat with the CRISPR-technology. The manipulated cells are already causing mice to lose weight, reports New Scientist.

Just for the record. Humans have white fat cells and brown fat cells. The ‘white fat’ is known to everyone. An excess of nutrients is stored here, resulting in weight gain. Brown fat is known to less people. This adipose tissue does not store nutrients, but burns them. So you need it if you want to lose weight.

A research team from Harvard University led by Yu-Hua Tseng has conducted a groundbreaking study. This may come in handy in the future for obese people, who cannot be independent to lose weight. The research used the gene editing tool CRISPR to give white fat cells the properties of brown fat cells.

From white fat to brown fat

Tseng and her colleagues used CRISPR technology to create the protein UCP1 localize, that in a unique way is expressed in brown fat. “The function of the protein is to convert chemical energy into heat,” explains Tseng Science Translational Medicine, the scientific journal in which the research was published.

Of resulting cells looked more like brown fat cells; they expressed nearly as much UCP1 as typical brown fat cells and had more mitochondria than the white fat cells.

Lose weight thanks to brown fat cells

In the second part of the study, the scientists transplanted white fat cells, brown fat cells and the created HUMBLE cells (human brown fat-like cells) into mice. These animals have been bred to have a weakened immune system, which prevents them from shedding human cells. All mice were fed a high-fat diet for 12 weeks. The result: the mice with white fat cells gained weight, while the mice with brown fat cells and HUMBLE cells lost weight.

Mark Christian of Nottingham Trent University, who was not directly involved in the study, adds that the affected mice are also more sensitive to insulin in this case. This suggests they may also be protected against diabetes.

CRISPR technology shows promise in the fight against obesity

In the future, the CRISPR technology used can be used to treat people with obesity and metabolic disorders. “For example, it might be possible to remove a small amount of a person’s white fat, turn it into brown fat, and reimplant it,” she says. “People who can’t to lose weight diet and exercise can benefit from this. ”

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