The Groundbreaking Findings at the Prevention of Arteriosclerosis
The groundbreaking findings were found about the arteriosclerosis at Bilkent University Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics Instructor Dr. Ebru Erbay's, TÜBA-GEBİP Awards Winner, lab.
It is well known that an important source of food that can destroy health is fat. But does this apply to all fat? Could some fat be good for your health? Especially the fat made in our bodies. The important answers to this important question have begun to be given in a groundbreaking manner the researches carried out at Dr. Ebru Erbay’s, TÜBA-GEBİP Awards Winner, lab. This research, which created great excitement in the scientific world, was supported by Marie Curie, one of the most prestigious science programs of the European Union. The results of the project were also published in Science Translational Medicine Journal, which has the highest impact factor in science. Accordingly, palmitoleate, a specific fat that is synthesized in a small amount in our body, can prevent arteriosclerosis for a long time oral usage.
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The red regions show the fat accumulation points called the atherosclerotic plaques. These plaques are large and common in the control group without palmitoleate. However, with the addition of palmitoleate to the feed, the plaques are severely retarded.
It was known that palmitoleate, an unsaturated fatty acid, called PAO in short, is associated with insulin sensitivity in mice and humans, and that it is rare in foods. The increasing of palmitoleate in fat and liver cells, especially in cases such as obesity and liver fatigue, has led to a false belief about that palmitoleate is associated with metabolic diseases. On the other hand, studies in mice have shown that palmitoleate is not just a storage material, but may have significant metabolic effects in various organs. For example, it regulates insulin effect and glucose uptake at muscles and affects fat metabolism in the liver. While these studies reveal significant physiological effects of palmitoleate, the mystery of its mechanism of action has not been solved for many years.
Dr. Dr. İsmail Çimen, a post-doctoral expert working with Erbay, and other members of the research group conducted molecular lipidomic studies on the blood and tissues of transgenic mice that are given PAO for 5 years. When they fed the mice with palmitoleate they showed that this material could reach into the cells and integrate into the membranes of the intracellular structures called organelles.
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These results are a breakthrough for the medical world. The first findings were obtained about preventing one of the most important health problems of our time, inflammation, which is at the core of the development of arteriosclerosis and metabolic stress felt at organelle level by adding palmitoleate to diet.