Posted on 04/29/2024 7:51:06 PM PDT by ConservativeMind
Conditions such as diabetes, heart attack, and vascular diseases commonly diagnosed in people with spinal cord injuries can be traced to abnormal post-injury neuronal activity that causes abdominal fat tissue compounds to leak and pool in the liver and other organs, a new animal study has found.
Researchers found that a short course of the drug gabapentin prevented the damaging metabolic effects of spinal cord injury.
Experiments revealed a cascade of abnormal activity within seven days after the injury in neurons and in visceral fat tissue.
"As soon as we disrupt sensory processing as a result of spinal cord injury, we see changes in the fat," Tedeschi said. "A vicious cycle is established."
The result is the spillover of free fatty acids and glycerol from fat tissue, a process called lipolysis, that has gone out of control. Results also showed an increase in blood flow in fat tissue and recruitment of immune cells to the environment.
Silencing the genes that encode the alpha2delta1 receptor restored the fat tissue to normal function, indicating that gabapentin—which targets alpha2delta1 and its partner, alpha2delta2—was a good treatment candidate.
Roy discovered something tricky about gabapentin: The drug prevented changes in abdominal fat tissue and lowered CGRP in the blood—and in turn prevented spillover of fatty acids into the liver a month later, establishing normal metabolic conditions. But paradoxically, the mice developed insulin resistance—a known side effect of gabapentin.
The team changed drug delivery tactics, starting with a high dose and tapering off—and stopping after four weeks.
"This way, we were able to normalize metabolism to a condition much more similar to control mice," Roy said. "This suggests that as we discontinue administration of the drug, we retain beneficial action and prevent spillover of lipids in the liver. That was really exciting."
(Excerpt) Read more at medicalxpress.com ...
“As soon as we disrupt sensory processing as a result of spinal cord injury, we see changes in the fat,”
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Pretty wild that a disruption in sensory processing would affect fat like this.
Yeah, I don’t get that.
Perhaps this disruption causes a change in hormonal activity.
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