Study on the food ingredients which induce browning in white adipocytes via the activation of nuclear receptors

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K07734
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Food science
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Goto Tsuyoshi 京都大学, 農学研究科, 准教授 (10550311)
• Research Collaborator: Kawada Teruo ; Takahashi Haruya ; Nomura Wataru
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 肥満 / 褐色脂肪組織 / 白色脂肪組織 / 核内受容体 / PPARalpha / UCP1

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Browning of white adipose tissue (WAT) is an attractive target for the management of obesity. In this study, we investigated about the browning induced by the activation of nuclear receptors which are the transcription factors activated by the ligands. We mainly showed the following two points. 1. Activation of PPARalpha, a nuclear receptor, induces browning of WAT via the increase in the production of a hepatokine, FGF21 in the liver. 2. Phytanic acid which is identified as a food-derived PPARalpha ligand can activate brown adipose tissue function via the direct activation of PPARalpha in adipocytes at least partially. These findings indicate that food-derived PPARalpha activator might be useful for the management of obesity via the activation of brown adipose tissue function.

Free Research Field

食品機能学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

肥満は食生活との関連が深く、現在の世界的な肥満者数の増加は、食に関する最大の健康問題の一つとなっている。白色脂肪組織の褐色化に代表される褐色脂肪組織機能亢進はエネルギー消費亢進を惹起し、肥満症の予防・治療効果が期待されている。本研究では、核内受容体PPARα活性化により、種々の分子機構によって褐色脂肪組織機能亢進が惹起されることを見出したものである。特に食品中には様々なPPARα活性化因子が見出されていることから、これらの食品成分を用いた肥満症の新たな予防法の創出が期待される。