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The acquisition of obesity: insights from cellular and genetic research

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2007

Martin Wabitsch
Martin Wabitsch*
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, University of Ulm, Prittwitzstr. 43, 89075 Ulm, Germany
*
Corresponding author: Dr Martin Wabitsch, fax +49 731 502 7789, email martin.wabitsch@medizin.uni-ulm.de
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Abstract

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The acquisition of increased adipose tissue mass in man occurs during prolonged periods of positive energy balance. Normally, energy homeostasis in children and adults is regulated strictly and the energy stores are kept within the defined age-dependent physiological range. Susceptibility to definitive increases in the level of energy balance during times of reduced energy consumption or increased energy intake, leading to changes in body composition and/or changes in relative body weight, seems to be genetically determined. Although at present much information on the regulation of energy homeostasis and related unfavourable factors exists from animal studies, knowledge of the regulation of energy balance in human subjects is still insufficient. Some evidence on relevant factors involved in the regulation of energy balance in man has been obtained from epidemiological data, as well as from studies of patients with rare monogenetic forms of obesity. In the present article a special focus will be put on the regulation of body energy stores at the level of the adipose tissue, with emphasis on the regulation of human adipocyte differentiation. In addition to the currently intensive scientific interest in the central regulation of energy homeostasis in man, there is sufficient evidence to support the idea that the acquisition of an increased adipose tissue mass is also dependent on the susceptibility of pre-adipocytes to proliferate, to differentiate or to enter into apoptosis.

Keywords

ObesityChildhoodAdipose tissue
Type
Symposium on ‘Growing up with good nutrition: a focus on the first two decades’
Information
Proceedings of the Nutrition Society , Volume 59 , Issue 2 , May 2000 , pp. 325 - 330
Copyright
Copyright © The Nutrition Society 2000

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