Vesicular storage, vesicle trafficking, and secretion of adiponectin, an insulin sensitizing adipokine.

• Main Author: Huang, Si Hua.
• Other Authors: Chen Peng
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Chemical engineering::Biotechnology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/39788
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Adipose tissue, which was formerly regarded as a passive depot of excess energy as fat, has been increasingly and recently recognized as the largest and highly active endocrine organ. It plays an important role in regulating metabolism and homeostasis through the secretion of a range of adipokines, such as adiponectin, leptin, resistin, visfatin etc. These adipokines are critically involved in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, energy homeostasis, immune and inflammatory regulation, by interacting with each other as well as with other endocrine hormones. The imbalance of the adipokines could results in metabolic disorders such as obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes etc. Adiponectin, as one of the adipokines, has shown increasing importance. Adiponectin plays a protective role at cardiovascular level due to its anti-inflammatory and anti-atherogenic properties and represents high concentration in peripheral circulation. However, the regulatory mechanism of adiponectin secretion and its interaction with other components in the complex metabolic system is still poorly understood. We believe that secretion of adiponectin is highly regulated as well as other adipokines, and adipocytes play the integral role in medicating metabolism via crosstalk with other secretory cells. In our project, we mainly focus on adiponectin, in terms of cellular and hormonal secretions, vesicular trafficking, intracellular localization, signals transduction, and interactions with various secretory factors at autocrine, paracrine and endocrine levels. Studies of adipokines’ secretion and their crosstalk may lead to new insights into energy metabolism and metabolic homeostasis. It may also lead to a possible finding of new therapies for metabolic disorders such as obesity and diabetes.