Muscle cells can control fatty acid uptake: Swedish research

Swedish researchers have found that blood vessels and muscles of the heart could regulate the uptake of fatty acids that people take through meat, milk products and other food.

The researchers showed that VEGF-B can control levels of fatty acid transport proteins (FATPs) in the vascular wall. VEGF-B signaling from the muscles to these cells led to an increase in FATPs and thus a greater intake of fat through the vascular walls, according to a statement issued by Sweden's medical university Karolinska Institute (KI) on Monday.

"Mice that lacked either the VEGF-B protein or its receptors in the walls of the blood vessels had a lower intake of fat to the muscles and the heart, and less accumulation of fat in the different tissues," said associate professor Ulf Eriksson, who led the study at KI's Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics.

"Instead, we found that the residual fat accumulated in the white adipose tissue, causing a slight weight increase in the mice, " he added.

Their most striking finding was that the mice that lacked VEGF- B, and that consequently had lower muscular fat uptake, increased the uptake of sugar to the heart, the statement said.

It is hoped that these results can one day be developed into new treatments for several metabolic diseases, including type II diabetes.

Karolinska Institute becomes famous around the world partly because the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is decided here every year.

Source: Xinhua