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Researchers listen to how fat cells talk” to the brain.
Thought LeaderLi Ye, PhDThe Abide Vivition Chair in Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Associate ProfessorScripps Research In this interview, News-Medical speaks with Li Ye, PhD, about his recent research that identified sensory neurons that transmit a stream of messages from adipose tissue to the brain. Can you please introduce yourself, tell us about your scientific background and what inspired your latest research? I am the Abide Vivid Chair in Chemistry and Chemical Biology and an Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Scripps Research. During graduate school, I studied adipose tissue. Understanding brain-fat interaction motivated me to pursue neuroscience later in my postdoctoral training. Currently employing…
Researchers listen to how fat cells talk” to the brain.
In this interview, News-Medical speaks with Li Ye, PhD, about his recent research that identified sensory neurons that transmit a stream of messages from fatty tissue to the brain.
Can you please introduce yourself, tell us about your scientific background and what inspired your latest research?
I am the Abide Vivid Chair in Chemistry and Chemical Biology and an Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Scripps Research. During graduate school, I studied adipose tissue. Understanding brain-fat interaction motivated me to pursue neuroscience later in my postdoctoral training. Currently we are generally concerned with body-brain communication.
It has long been known that nerves extend into adipose tissue (the tissue that stores fat cells). What was previously thought about these neurons and how fat cells “communicated” with the brain?
It was once thought that the nerves in fat served primarily to make the brain “talk” to the fat rather than listen to the fat. It was previously believed that fat communicates with the brain primarily through secreted hormones.
Image source: UGREEN 3S/Shutterstock.com
Why have attempts to study the types and functions of these neurons been difficult?
It was difficult because these neurons lie deep in the body and are intertwined with other neurons that innervate the skin and muscles.
Please tell us how you conducted your research and what your key findings were.
The first method is one Imaging approach called HYBRiD, which my lab invented. This HYBRiD method makes mouse tissue transparent and allowed us to better follow the routes of neurons into fatty tissue. In this way, we discovered that a significant proportion of the neurons had no connection to the sympathetic nervous system, but to the dorsal root ganglia - an area of the brain where all sensory neurons originate.
To better examine the role of these neurons in adipose tissue, we used a second new technique that we called ROOT, for “retrograde vectors optimized for organ tracking.” With ROOT, we can use a targeted virus to selectively destroy sensory neurons that go to fatty tissue (but not other locations) and then watch what happens.
Our results suggest that sensory neurons and sympathetic neurons may have two opposing functions: sympathetic neurons are required for activating fat burning and producing heat, and sensory neurons are required for shutting down these programs.
How important are sensory neurons in health and disease and how do your results support this importance?
Sensory neurons are very important for the perception of pain and the perception of external environments. Their role in regulating homeostasis (balance of metabolism in the body) is now becoming increasingly recognized. Our finding represents a new way in which sensory neurons can do this through adipose tissue.
Photo credit: Giovanni Cancemi/Shutterstock.com
They developed two new methods for this study. Would these methods be transferable to other research projects and what impact did they have on this research?
Yes, they can be used to study other sensory neurons that may control other internal organs in the body.
How might these findings impact the understanding and treatment of such diseases, considering that dysregulation of energy storage is linked to several diseases such as diabetes?
We hope so. Much ongoing research is focused on how to increase the fat burning process to treat obesity/diabetes, which is known to be controlled by the brain. The “accelerator pedal” for increasing fat burning is well known and an important focus of possible treatments for diseases. We discovered that the system has a brake. Modulating the brake can be an interesting way to achieve the same goals.
In your study you have questioned long-established ideas. How important is it for scientists to question dogmas and develop new methods that allow them to do so?
I think that enabling methods and challenging dogmas are two main drivers of science and our knowledge. We should encourage and provide resources to every scientist.
What’s next for you and your research?
We want to know two things:
1) What signal is perceived by the nerves in fat?
2) How does the brain use the information from fat?
We are finding resources and developing new tools to answer these questions.
Where can readers find more information?
About Li Ye
Li Ye received his BS in biological sciences from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.He received his doctorate. at Harvard University in Bruce's laboratory. M. Spiegelman of Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who uses chemical biology approaches to study transcriptional control of energy metabolism. In 2013, Li moved to Stanford University, where he worked in Karl Deisseroth's lab, focusing on the development and application of activity-dependent, brain-wide circuit mapping tools. Li joined TSRI in 2018.
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