35 results about "Brown Adipocytes" patented technology

Methods and devices are provided for activating brown adipose tissue (BAT). Generally, the methods and devices can activate BAT to increase thermogenesis, e.g., increase heat production in the patient, which over time can lead to weight loss. In one embodiment, a medical device is provided that activates BAT by electrically stimulating nerves that activate the BAT and/or electrically stimulating brown adipocytes directly, thereby increasing thermogenesis in the BAT and inducing weight loss through energy expenditure.

The present invention is based in part on the discovery of brown and white fat cell specific surface markers. It has been found that the small amino acid transporter Slca10/Asc1 is a specific surface marker for white adipocytes and that the ligand-gated ion channel P2X5 and the small amino acid transporter Slc36a2 are specific surface markers for brown adipocytes. Having identified these specific white and brown cell surface markers, the present invention provides compositions and methods suitable for the targeting of any number of agents to a white or brown adipose tissue and the identification and isolation of white or brown adipocytes for any number of uses including therapeutic, screening and diagnostic purposes.

The first aspect of the invention relates to a phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitor for use in the treatment or prevention of a disease or condition associated with the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-α (Pgd1α) and/or uncoupling protein 1 (Thermogenin/Ucp1) in brown adipocytes. The disease or condition may be positive energy imbalance-associated, for example, obesity, an obesity-associated disease or condition, steatosis and biological aging (performance aging). Another aspect of the invention provides the use of a phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitor for promoting weight loss in an individual.

Provided are a method of producing brown adipocytes from pluripotent stem cells, a method of producing cell aggregates as an intermediate product thereof, pluripotent stem cell-derived cell aggregates and pluripotent stem cell-derived brown adipocytes produced by these methods, and cell therapy using the pluripotent stem cell-derived brown adipocytes. In the method of producing brown adipocytes from pluripotent stem cells, cell aggregates are produced from pluripotent stem cells by a method including the step (A), and brown adipocytes are prepared from the cell aggregates by a method including the step (B). The step (A) is a step of producing cell aggregates by non-adhesive culture of pluripotent stem cells in serum-free environment in the presence of a hematopoietic cytokine, and the step (B) is a step of producing brown adipocytes by adhesion culture of the cell aggregates in the presence of a hematopoietic cytokine.

The subject matter of the invention is a functional population of human brown adipocytes, in which the expression of UCP1, CIDEA, CPT1B and Bc12 is higher, the expression of Bax is lower and the expression of PPAR-alpha, PGC-1alpha, PGC-1 beta and PRDM16 is similar compared with the corresponding expressions of a population of human white adipocytes. The invention also relates to a method for differentiation of hMADS cells into the functional population of human brown adipocytes, to a method for conversion of a population of human white adipocytes into the functional population of human brown adipocytes, and also to a method of screening for molecules capable of modulating the bodyweight in an individual.

The invention provides a method for enhancing the heat generation efficiency of brown adipocytes and application, and concretely provides a purpose of a heat generation enhancing compound for preparing a preparation or a composition. The preparation or the composition is used for enhancing the heat generation efficiency of the brown adipocytes induced by a downstream cAMP-PKA signal channel and anNE (Norepinephrine) receptor, wherein the heat generation enhancing compound is a plastosome compound V/ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) hydrolase inhibitor. When the heat generation enhancing compound and a first compound (an NE receptor and a downstream cAMP-PKA signal channel enhancer) are combined, the heat generation efficiency of the brown adipocytes induced by the downstream cAMP-PKA signal channel and the NE (Norepinephrine) receptor can be obviously enhanced.

The invention discloses a brown adipocyte-derived exosome as well as a preparation method and application thereof, and belongs to the technical field of molecular biology. The preparation method of the exosome provided by the invention comprises the following steps: constructing human skin fibroblasts co-expressing PPAR gamma and CEBP beta to obtain brown adipose precursor cells; carrying out induced differentiation culture on the brown adipose precursor cells by using the brown adipose cell induced differentiation culture medium to obtain brown adipose cells; and enabling the brown adipocytes to secrete exosomes to obtain the exosomes from the brown adipocytes. The exosome provided by the invention can be used for treating the pain symptom of arthritis in an external application mode, so that the exosome can be used for preparing medicines for treating diseases related to arthritis.

The present invention provides an anti-obesity agent having an anti-obesity effect obtained by combining a few extracts, which is attained by an anti-obesity agent containing Forsythia leaf extract, Citrus extract, and at least one extract selected from the group consisting of Licorice extract and Gardenia fruit extract, and it is preferable that the anti-obesity agent contains both Licorice extract and Gardenia fruit extract. The anti-obesity agent exhibits an ideal anti-obesity effect for increasing brown adipocytes and muscle weight to increase a basal metabolic rate and to decrease white adipocytes.

The present invention provides a composition having a metabolism-improving action, which comprises a supernatant of brown adipocytes or a purified product thereof. The present invention also provides a method of preparing the supernatant without using a culture solution comprising a high concentration of glucose. The present invention also provides a method of producing brown adipocytes using pluripotent stem cells, which are useful for preparing the supernatant of brown adipocytes. The present invention has succeeded in obtaining a supernatant having a metabolism-improving action from brown adipocytes. It was also possible to obtain the supernatant without using a culture solution comprising a high concentration of glucose. The present invention has also succeeded in producing brown adipocytes from pluripotent stem cells using a feeder-free culture system without adding a cytokine cocktail or the like. The brown adipocyte supernatant of the present invention is expected to be applied to the development of therapeutic agents and cosmetic products for glucose metabolism diseases.