Animal Models Of Obesity

Not only developed countries, but also most developing areas of the world, have experienced a surge in obesity prevalence over recent decades. Obesity complications are now among the leading causes of premature mortality, encompassing conditions such as coronary heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. This places a heavy burden on contemporary healthcare systems. While rodent models have limitations as experimental models of human obesity-related disease, study of rats and mice either spontaneously prone - or resistant - to obesity, or genetically engineered to illuminate underlying mechanisms has yielded key information about the metabolic defects linked to obesity, and their associated diseases. This topic includes both original research studies and reviews of the use of animal studies in specific areas of obesity-related disease. Various methodological approaches are discussed, with evaluation of the extent to which use of animal models has facilitated progress, or, conversely, has proved a cul de sac in investigation of human disease mechanisms. Consideration is also given to future strategies to use such rodent models optimally to enhance comprehension and treatment of pandemic human obesity-related diseases.

The book aims to review knowledge on the disorders of eating behaviour and body composition in some of the non-primate higher animals and to relate these to similar conditions in humans. With advances in understanding the nature of these disorders and their biological basis, it seems timely to assess what cross-species comparisons can tell us about the general underlying factors at work. This may also help to delineate what may be a general biological basis that humans share with their higher animal comrade species and what may distinguish human from non-human, particularly in a cultural context. This could help in combating better the problems of these conditions in the animal species as well as in man and in suggesting well-based preventive measures. As far as people are concerned the last two decades of the 20th century have shown a significant increase in obesity in the richer countries, particularly the USA (Table 1). Possibly associated with the obesity boom, there is an increasing awareness of other disorders of eating behaviour and body composition. These range from anorexia nervosa, at the other end of body composition to obesity, to others, such as bulimia, with more variable effects on body composition.

This book aims to aid the selection of the most appropriate methods for use in early phase (1 and 2) clinical studies of new drugs for diabetes, obesity, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and related cardiometabolic disorders. Clinical research methods to assess the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of new diabetes drugs, e.g. the euglycemic clamp technique, have become well-established in proof-of-mechanism studies. However, selection of the most appropriate techniques is by no means straightforward. Moreover, the application of such methods must conform to the regulatory requirements for new drugs. This book discusses the need for new pharmacotherapies for diabetes, obesity and NAFLD and the molecular targets of drugs currently in development. Emerging technologies including functional imaging, circulating biomarkers and omics are considered together with practical and ethical issues pertaining to early phase clinical trials in subjects with cardiometabolic disorders. Translational Research Methods in Diabetes, Obesity, and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease is of interest to biomedical scientists, pharmacologists, academics involved in metabolic research and clinicians practicing in these specialties.

Animal Models for the Study of Human Disease identifies important animal models and assesses the advantages and disadvantages of each model for the study of human disease. The first section addresses how to locate resources, animal alternatives, animal ethics and related issues, much needed information for researchers across the biological sciences and biomedicine.The next sections of the work offers models for disease-oriented topics, including cardiac and pulmonary diseases, aging, infectious diseases, obesity, diabetes, neurological diseases, joint diseases, visual disorders, cancer, hypertension, genetic diseases, and diseases of abuse. Organized by disease orientation for ease of searchability Provides information on locating resources, animal alternatives and animal ethics Covers a broad range of animal models used in research for human disease

Nowadays, adipose tissue is not only regarded as an organ of storage related to fuel metabolism but also as an endocrine organ involved in the regulation of insulin sensitivity, lipids and energy metabolism.These proceedings cover the nervous regulation of both white and brown adipose tissue mass. Different physiological parameters such as metabolism (lipolysis and thermogenesis) and secretory activity (leptin and other adipokines) are reviewed. The plasticity of adipose tissue (proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis) showing the presence of a neural feedback loop between adipose tissue and the brain, which plays a major role in the regulation of energy homeostasis, is discussed.Merging basic knowledge and various clinical conditions, this thorough review is of great interest to both scientists and physicians, in particular pediatricians, interested in obesity, endocrinology and nutrition.

Body weight is determined by the balance between energy intake and energy expenditure. Obesity ensues when energy intake exceeds that of energy expenditure. To date, the majority of pharmaco-therapies to control body weight have been directed towards the appetitive limb of this energy balance equation. Very few anti-obesity agents target the manipulation of energy expenditure. The recent unequivocal demonstration that functional brown adipose tissue is present in adult humans has sparked a great deal of interest in developing means to exploit thermogenesis to control body weight. Thermogenesis is defined as the dissipation of energy through the production of heat and occurs in specialised tissues including brown adipose tissue and skeletal muscle. This chapter will highlight a number of animal models that are currently utilised in effort to understand the mechanisms that underpin thermogenesis. It will describe the control of thermogenesis in skeletal muscle and adipose tissue as well as detailing the role of thermogenesis in determining the susceptibility to obesity in a number of distinct animal models.