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CHUNG, SOONKYU, Ph. D. Mechanisms by Which Conjugated ...

CHUNG, SOONKYU, Ph. D. Mechanisms by Which Conjugated ...

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ole of chronic ERK activation <strong>by</strong> CLA, the silencing of ERK using RNA interference<br />

followed <strong>by</strong> the examination of signaling cascade would be good strategy to take.<br />

Polyunsaturated fatty acids are known to play an anti-inflammatory role. Parallel to<br />

this concept, it is suggested recently that docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) supplementation<br />

to the diet can attenuate CLA-induced fatty liver through the reduction of hepatic fatty<br />

acid synthesis without affecting adipokine production in C57BL/6N mice (Yanagita et al.<br />

2005). In chapter III, I have proposed that inflammation contributes to adipocytes<br />

delipidation <strong>by</strong> CLA, but there is a possibility the two pathways (i.e., inflammation and<br />

delipidation) are regulated in a distinct manner. Taking advantage of anti-inflammatory<br />

properties of fish oil, attenuation of adiposity <strong>by</strong> CLA without triggering inflammation<br />

might be achievable <strong>by</strong> co-supplementation with DHA.<br />

My research questions focused on inflammation, and its impact on insulin<br />

resistance and type II diabetes. In the future, I would like to investigate potential factors<br />

secreted from visceral fat comparing to subcutaneous fat that promote insulin resistance<br />

in response to inflammatory stimuli. Recently, visfatin has been identified as an<br />

adipokine, which is predominantly secreted from visceral adipose tissue both in humans<br />

and mice. Visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue display important metabolic<br />

differences that underlie the association of visceral obesity with obesity-related<br />

cardiovascular and metabolic alterations. Therefore, research revealing the association of<br />

visfatin to insulin resistance, and its mechanism of action offer promising data that could<br />

potentially provide insights about why visceral adipose tissue is a more important<br />

predictor of insulin resistance compare to subcutaneous adipose tissue. Another future<br />

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