Mapping a fat cell to understand its functionality

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For the first time, Australian scientists have detailed the proteins, or functional molecules, inside and around the ‘plasma membrane’ of a fat cell, the permeable barrier between the cell’s inner workings and the rest of the body.

Mapping a healthy fat cell at a basal level, or in a ‘pure’ state unaffected by its environment, allows us to understand exactly how it responds when exposed to hormones and other substances that blood carries around the body.

Why a fat cell? Because it plays a central role in metabolism, and its dysfunction is one of the factors that leads to the complex lifestyle-related illness we call Type 2 diabetes.

Professor David James, Leader of the Diabetes Program at Sydney’s Garvan Institute of Medical Research, along with Drs Matthew Prior and Mark Larance from his lab, focused particularly on how fat cells respond to insulin, the hormone that facilitates movement of fats and sugars from the blood to the cell interior, where they can be burned for energy.

Ref and Read more: http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20112909-22675.html

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