
Polka Department Chair: Professor Zofia Zukowska, M.D., Ph.D., Warsaw Medical Academy. odkrywa jak drastycznie obnizyc nadwagi bezpiecznie.
Klania sie Lech Bajan z Washington DC.
Szkoda tylko ze media miedzynarodowe nie podaja to ze to wlasnie Polka Zofia Zukowska, the study's senior author and a Georgetown professor pracujaca w Uniwersytecie w Georgetown w USA byla glownym badaczem ktora powinna dostac kredyt.
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor
New Study Links Stress, Obesity
The Washington Post
Scientists reported today they have uncovered a biological switch by which stress can promote obesity, a discovery that could help explain the world's growing weight problem and lead to new ways to both melt flab and manipulate fat for cosmetic purposes. In an elaborate series of experiments on mice, researchers showed that the neurochemical pathway they identified promotes fat growth in chronically stressed animals that eat the equivalent of a junk-food diet. The international team also showed that blocking those signals can prevent fat accumulation and shrink fat deposits, while stimulating the pathway can strategically create new ones, possibly offering new ways to remove fat as well as to mold youthful faces, firmer buttocks and bigger breasts. "It's very exciting," said Zofia Zukowska of Georgetown University, who led the research published online by the journal Nature Medicine. "This could be revolutionary." While cautioning that the...
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers have figured out how to remove fat from one part of the body and make it grow in another part -- at least in mice -- and say their findings could benefit health as well as beauty.
Their findings also shed light on how and why stressed-out people so often gain weight.
"We don't think this is something that would be used for gross obesity, but for reshaping the body for use with pockets of fat ... that would be all very good," said Dr. Zofia Zukowska of Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, who led the study.
Their findings are based on a naturally produced chemical messenger or neurotransmitter called neuropeptide Y, or NPY -- long linked with appetite, weight gain and obesity.
Zukowska said her findings in mice suggest that NPY helps make some body fat more dangerous than other kinds. Controlling it could help slow some of the more dangerous side effects of obesity such as heart disease and diabetes, her team reported in the journal Nature Medicine.
Manipulating NPY offers a new tool for plastic surgeons. "You could take the fat from your buttocks and put it in your breasts and cheeks," she said.
NPY attaches to a receptor, a molecular doorway, in fat cells that is called neuropeptide Y2 receptor, or Y2R. It activates fat cells and some of cells in the blood vessels found in fat tissue.
OPPRESSIVE COMMUTE
For the research, Zukowska's team first tried to stress mice in a way that would duplicate human life.
They made them stand in cold puddles -- akin to riding a bus with wet feet in the winter. They also put the mice with aggressive mice that might act similarly to an angry human boss.
Half the stressed mice got a normal mouse diet and half got a high-fat, high-sugar diet. "What I like to call the American diet," Zukowska said.
The stressed mice given a normal diet lost weight. Those on the "American" diet gained weight, more weight than would be expected given how much they ate. And their bodies were producing extra NPY.
Zukowska believes that NPY helps the body lay down fat, rich in blood vessels. "It is the bad kind of obesity because it leads to diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease and strokes -- what we call metabolic syndrome," she said.
When the researchers injected a drug that blocks Y2R -- the doorway NPY uses to get into cells -- the mice lost 40 percent of their belly fat. Not only that, but signs of diabetes and other ill effects disappeared.
"It had a profound effect on overall metabolism," Zukowska said.
Her team also made NPY into a slow-release pellet. When they placed this pellet under the skin of thin rhesus monkeys, they grew pockets of fat around the pellets. Such treatments may help replace the fat lost in people's faces as they age.
They used a drug made by privately owned Boehringer Ingelheim to do this, and have a license for its use in this way, but Zukowska said her team may look for other drugs that have the same effect. It has not yet been tested in humans.
Zukowska noted that some clinics claim to already offer such treatments, but said they use bile acids that kill tissue and may cause infection. "There isn't anything on the market right now that could be used to melt the fat that is scientifically proven," she said.
Ever dream of shifting around body fat to flatten your tummy and boost your bust all without surgery? Or maybe blocking that ample fat? According to an international study published Sunday, the fantasy could become reality.
The study, published online in Nature Medicine, could "revolutionise human cosmetic and reconstructive surgery and treatment of diseases associated with human obesity," the Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, which participated in the research, said in a statement.
In the study, American, Australian and Slovak researchers describe a mechanism they found by which stress activates weight gain in mice. By manipulating this pathway, they said they were in fact able to selectively add fat to their test subjects.
"We couldn't believe such fat remodeling was possible, but the numerous different experiments conducted over four years demonstrated that it is, at least in mice," Zofia Zukowska, the study's senior author and a Georgetown professor, said in the statement.
"We are hopeful that these findings might eventually lead to control of metabolic syndrome.... Decreasing fat in the abdomen of the mice we studied reduced the fat in their liver and skeletal muscles, and also helped control insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, blood pressure and inflammation," she added.
The researchers tested how stressed and unstressed mice on different diets accumulated and stored fat, discovering that stressed mice eating high calorie food gained twice as much fat as unstressed mice eating the same meals.
Zofia Zukowska, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Chair
Georgetown University
Physiology & Biophysics
ProfessorAppointed: 1995
Mailing Address
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
Georgetown University Medical Center
3900 Reservoir Rd, NW
Washington, District of Columbia 20007
United States Contact Information
zzukow01@georgetown.edu
Qualifications
M.D., Ph.D., Warsaw Medical Academy, Warsaw, Poland, Medicine and Physiology, 1979.
Expertise and Research Interests
Neurogenic regulation of vascular functions - vasoconstriction and vascular remodeling - with focus on neuropeptide Y. An interative approach from the whole animal hemodynamic and sympathetic activity measurements, to in vitro assays of vasoconstriction and vascular and endothelial cell biology, to molecular biology of neuropeptide Y-related and neuropeptide Y receptor genes. Role of neuropeptide Y in ischemia-driven angiogenesis, atherosclerosis and hypertension.
Our laboratory discovered that neuropeptide Y, previously known as a vasocostrictive sympathetic neurotransmitter, is a potent vascular mitogenic and angiogenic factor (see Circ Res 83:187-95, 1998; TCM 13:86-91, 2003; ATVB June 2003; JCI June 2003). We have already identified multiple receptors responsible for these effects and current research deals with cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuropeptide actions in in-vitro and in-vivo models of vascular diseases.
Other Expertise
Testing of adrenergic receptor function using in vitro and in vivo models such as Mulvany myograph and the pithed rat
Stress testing in rats and mice
Models of tumor angiogenesis and retinopathy
Future Research
Genomics and proteomics of the neuropeptide Y system in human diseases
Industrial Relevance
Testing of adrenergic and NPY agonists and antagonists for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases
Angiogenesis, Arteriosclerosis or Atherosclerosis, Physiology, Vascular Biology.
Additional Terms:
Adrenergic and Neuropeptide Y Receptors, Angiogenesis, Atherosclerosis, Neural and Vascular Biology.
Languages
(Reading, Writing, Speaking)
English: (fluent, fluent, fluent)
Polish: (fluent, fluent, fluent)
French: (basic, basic, basic)
Russian: (basic, basic, basic)
Memberships
American Physiological Society
Council for High Blood Pressure Research, Council on Atherosclerosis
Society for Hypertension, Polish Academy of Sciences
Society for Neuroscience
Honors and Awards
2002, Nicolaus Copernicus Award for Excellence in Neuropeptide Research, European Neuropeptide Club and University of Warmia and Mazury, Neuropeptides in Physiology and Medicine
2000, Outstanding Scientists of the 20th Century,
1999-2001, Who is Who in America,
1989-1991, Adele Melbourne Holmes Award, American Heart Association, American Heart Association, DC Affiliate, Established Investigator in Cardiovascular Research
1980, Outstanding Research Award, Polish Society for Cardiology, Experimental Cardiovascular Medicine
Previous Positions
1991-1995, Associate Professor, Georgetown University, Physiology & Biophysics
1986-1991, Assistant Professor, Georgetown University, Physiology & Bioiphysics
1980-1986, Visiting Fellow and Associate, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
1978-1980, Assistant Professor, Department of Hypertension and Angiology, Medical Academy of Warsaw, Poland
Funding Received
National Institutes of Health (NIH): Does Neuropeptide Y (NPY) Promote Atherosclerosis?, Apr 1, 2003 to Mar 30, 2008.
National Institutes of Health (NIH): Neuropeptide Y and Ischemia-driven Angiogenesis, 2000 to 2004.
AstraZeneca: NPY Receptor Antagonists in Cardiovascular Diseases, 1998 to 2001.
National Institutes of Health (NIH): NPY in Vascular Remodeling, 1996 to 2003.
National Institutes of Health (NIH): Gender and Neuropeptide Y-Adrenergic Interactions, 1990 to 1995.
American Heart Association: Neuropeptide Y and Vasoconstriction, 1989 to 1994.
Publications
Li, J., Lee, E.W., Ji., and Zukowska, Z., Neuropeptide Y-induced acceleration of post-angioplasty occlusion of rat carotid artery, ATVB, June 2003
Lee, E.W., Michalkiewicz, M., Kitlinska, J., Kalezic, I., Switalska, H., Yoo, P., Sanghart, A., Ji., H., Li, L., Michalkiewicz, T., Ljubisavljevic, M., Johansson, H., Grant, D.S., and Zukowska, Z., Neuropeptide Y induces ischemic angiogenesis and restores function of ischemic skeletal muscles, JCI, June 2003
Lee, E.W., Grant D.S., and Zukowska, Z., Neuropeptide Y: A novel mechanism for ischemic angiogenesis, Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine, 13(2), 86-91, February 2003
Lee, E.W., Grant, D.S., Movafagh, S., and Zukowska, Z., Impaired angiogenesis in neuropeptide Y (NPY)-Y2 receptor knockout mice, Peptides, 24, 99-106, 2003
Pons, J., Kitlinska, J., Ji, H., Lee, E.W. and Zukowska, Z., Mitogenic actions of neuropeptide Y in vascular smooth muscle cells: synergistic interactiosn with beta-adrenergic system, Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, 81, 177-185, 2003
Zukowska, Z., POns, J., Lee, E.W., and Li, L., Neuropeptide Y: and new mediator linking sympathetic nerves, blood vessels and immune system?, Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology, 81, 89--94, 2003
Zukowska, Z., Roles and perspectives of neuropeptides in medicine, Neuropeptides, 36(6), 435-495, December 2002
Kitlinska, J., Lee, E.W., Movafagh, S., Pons, J., and Zukowska, Z., Neuropeptide Y-induced angiogenesis in aging, Peptides, 23, 71-77, 2002
Ghersi G, Chen W, Lee EW, Zukowska Z, Critical role of dipeptidyl peptidase IV in neuropeptide Y-mediated endothelial cell migration in response to wounding, Peptides, 22(3), 453-8, March 2001
Grant DS, Zukowska Z, Revascularization of ischemic tissues with SIKVAV and neuropeptide Y (NPY), Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, 476, 139-54, 2000
Zukowska-Grojec Z, Karwatowska-Prokopczuk E, Fisher TA, Ji H, Mechanisms of vascular growth-promoting effects of neuropeptide Y: role of its inducible receptors, Regulatory Peptides, 75-76, 231-8, 1998
Qureshi NU, Dayao EK, Shirali S, Zukowska-Grojec Z, Hauser GJ, Endogenous neuropeptide Y mediates vasoconstriction during endotoxic and hemorrhagic shock, Regulatory Peptides, 75-76, 215-20, 1998
Kim J, Ruff M, Karwatowska-Prokopczuk E, Hunt L, Ji H, Pert CB, Zukowska-Grojec Z, HIV envelope protein gp120 induces neuropeptide Y receptor-mediated proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells: relevance to AIDS cardiovascular pathogenesis, Regulatory Peptides, 75-76, 201-5, 1998
Lewandowski J, Pruszczyk P, Elaffi M, Chodakowska J, Wocial B, Switalska H, Januszewicz W, Zukowska-Grojec Z, Blood pressure, plasma NPY and catecholamines during physical exercise in relation to menstrual cycle, ovariectomy, and estrogen replacement, Regulatory Peptides, 75-76, 239-45, 1998
Zukowska-Grojec Z, Karwatowska-Prokopczuk E, Rose W, Rone J, Movafagh S, Ji H, Yeh Y, Chen WT, Kleinman HK, Grouzmann E, Grant DS, Neuropeptide Y: a novel angiogenic factor from the sympathetic nerves and endothelium, Circulation Research, 83(2), 187-95, 1998
Zukowska-Grojec Z, Neuropeptide Y: an adrenergic cotransmitter, vasoconstrictor, and a nerve-derived vascular growth factor, Advances in Pharmacology, 42, 125-8, 1998
Zukowska-Grojec Z, Dayao EK, Karwatowska-Prokopczuk E, Hauser GJ, Doods HN, Stress-induced mesenteric vasoconstriction in rats is mediated by neuropeptide Y Y1 receptors, American Journal of Physiology, 270(2 Pt 2), H796-800, February 1996
Zukowska-Grojec Z, Neuropeptide Y. A novel sympathetic stress hormone and more, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 771, 219-33, 1995
Hauser GJ, Dayao EK, Zukowska-Grojec Z, Effect of neuropeptide Y on endotoxin-induced suppression of the response to various agonists in conscious rats, Life Sciences, 57(3), 235-44, 1995
Hauser GJ, Myers AK, Dayao EK, Zukowska-Grojec Z, Neuropeptide Y infusion improves hemodynamics and survival in rat endotoxic shock, American Journal of Physiology, 265(4 Pt 2), H1416-23, October 1993
Zukowska-Grojec Z, Pruszczyk P, Colton C, Yao J, Shen GH, Myers AK, Wahlestedt C, Mitogenic effect of neuropeptide Y in rat vascular smooth muscle cells, Peptides, 14(2), 263-8, 1993
Zukowska-Grojec Z, Shen GH, Capraro PA, Vaz CA, Cardiovascular, neuropeptide Y, and adrenergic responses in stress are sexually differentiated, Physiology and Behavior, 49(4), 771-7, April 1991
Wahlestedt C, Hakanson R, Vaz CA, Zukowska-Grojec Z, Norepinephrine and neuropeptide Y: vasoconstrictor cooperation in vivo and in vitro, American Journal of Physiology, 258(3 Pt 2), R736-42, March 1990
Deka-Starosta A, Garty M, Zukowska-Grojec Z, Keiser HR, Kopin IJ, Goldstein DS, Renal sympathetic nerve activity and norepinephrine release in rats, American Journal of Physiology, 257(1 Pt 2), R229-36, July 1989
Zukowska-Grojec Z, Vaz AC, Role of neuropeptide Y (NPY) in cardiovascular responses to stress, Synapse, 2(3), 293-8, 1988
Zukowska-Grojec Z, Marks ES, Haass M, Neuropeptide Y is a potent vasoconstrictor and a cardiodepressant in rat, American Journal of Physiology, 253(5 Pt 2), H1234-9, November 1987
Zamir N, Haass M, Dave JR, Zukowska-Grojec Z, Anterior pituitary gland modulates the release of atrial natriuretic peptides from cardiac atria, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), 84(2), 541-5, January 1987
Zukowska-Grojec Z, Haass M, Kopin IJ, Zamir N, Interactions of atrial natriuretic peptide with the sympathetic and endocrine systems in the pithed rat, Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 239(2), 480-7, November 1986
Zukowska-Grojec Z, Haass M, Bayorh MA, Neuropeptide Y and peptide YY mediate nonadrenergic vasoconstriction and modulate sympathetic responses in rats, Regulatory Peptides, 15(2), 99-110, September 1986
Eskay R, Zukowska-Grojec Z, Haass M, Dave JR, Zamir N, Circulating atrial natriuretic peptides in conscious rats: regulation of release by multiple factors, Science, 232(4750), 636-9, 1986
Haass M, Kopin IJ, Goldstein DS, Zukowska-Grojec Z, Differential inhibition of alpha adrenoceptor-mediated pressor responses by rat atrial natriuretic peptide in the pithed rat, Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 235(1), 122-7, October 1985
Eimerl J, Bayorh MA, Zukowska-Grojec Z, Faden AI, Ezra D, Feuerstein G, Substance K: vascular and cardiac effects in rat and pig, Peptides, 6 Suppl 2, 149-53, 1985
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