( A study conducted by researchers at Was...)Protein That Absorbs Lipids may Provide Future Weight-loss Strategies,Health

A study conducted by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has led to the identification of a protein that absorbs lipids in the upper part of the intestine, raising hopes that it may provide a novel approach for obesity treatment in the future.

Principal investigator Dr. Nada A. Abumrad, the Dr. Robert C. Atkins Professor of Medicine and Obesity Research at Washington University School of Medicine, first identified CD36 protein that facilitates the uptake of fatty acids. The protein is located on the surface of cells and distributed in many tissues, including fat cells, the digestive tract, heart tissue and skeletal muscle tissue.

Dr. Abumrad says that the intestine makes large amounts of CD36, and that it is important to the absorption of fatty acids.

During her initial experiments, wherein she compared normal mice that made the protein to genetically altered mice lacking the protein, she could not find any net difference in their fat absorption. In the present study, the researcher has found the reason why it was not possible to identify a difference.

She says that CD36 normally absorbs fatty acids in the upper, or proximal part of the intestine, but in its absence, lower, more distal, sections of the intestine compensate and absorb the fat.

"We think of the intestine as a single organ, but it's really made up of distinct areas that are so specialized it's almost like several organs. The fat that is not absorbed in the proximal areas ends up being bumped into the distal intestine where different systems absorb it," Abumrad says.

The researchers believe that targeting the upper part of the intestine and interfering with normal CD36 function may be a useful tool in weight loss. They say that animals that cannot make CD36 absorb fat less efficiently, due to which they tend to eat less of it.

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